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Elle demande ce que vous observez pendant la réaction.

Elle demande ce que vous observez pendant la réaction.
She asks what you observe during the reaction.
From Lesson 180:Reported questions with what (il demande ce qui, ce que)·French

Questions & Answers about Elle demande ce que vous observez pendant la réaction.

Why do we use ce que for "what" here instead of just que or quoi?
In indirect questions—when you report a question rather than asking it directly—"what" is translated as either ce qui or ce que. We use ce que here because "what" is the object of the action: you are observing it. If "what" were the subject doing the action (like in "what is happening"), we would use ce qui.
Why is the word order vous observez instead of inverted like observez-vous?
Indirect questions in French do not use inversion. Even if the original direct question was Qu'observez-vous ? (What do you observe?), once it becomes reported speech embedded in a sentence, it changes back to standard subject-verb order: ce que vous observez.
Why doesn't the tense of observez change in this reported sentence?
Because the introductory verb demande is in the present tense. When reporting speech with a present tense introductory verb, you do not need to shift the tenses of the original quote backwards. Her original question was in the present tense, so it stays in the present tense here.
Could I use durant instead of pendant for "during" here?
Yes, durant la réaction works perfectly here and means the exact same thing as pendant la réaction. Pendant is just slightly more common in everyday spoken French, while durant can sound a tiny bit more formal.

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