27.1502, Review: Translation: Saldanha, O'Brien (2014)

[The LINGUIST List via LINGUIST]

LINGUIST List: Vol-27-1502. Thu Mar 31 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.1502, Review: Translation: Saldanha, O'Brien (2014)

Moderators: linguist at linguistlist.org (Damir Cavar, Malgorzata E. Cavar)
Reviews: reviews at linguistlist.org (Anthony Aristar, Helen Aristar-Dry, Robert Coté, Sara Couture)
Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

*****************    LINGUIST List Support    *****************
                       Fund Drive 2016
                   25 years of LINGUIST List!
Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
           http://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/

Editor for this issue: Sara  Couture <sara at linguistlist.org>
================================================================


Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2016 13:35:38
From: Monica Vasileanu [monica.vasileanu at gmail.com]
Subject: Research Methodologies in Translation Studies

 
Discuss this message:
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=36114297


Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/25/25-4431.html

AUTHOR: Gabriela  Saldanha
AUTHOR: Sharon  O'Brien
TITLE: Research Methodologies in Translation Studies
PUBLISHER: Routledge (Taylor and Francis)
YEAR: 2014

REVIEWER: Monica Vasileanu, Romanian Academy, Institute of Linguistics

Reviews Editor: Robert Arthur Cote

SUMMARY

“Research Methodologies in Translation Studies” by Gabriela Saldanha and
Sharon O’Brien discusses the methodologies currently used in the research
domain of translation studies (hence TS). It is primarily aimed at university
students from undergraduate level to PhD, but may be of use to more
experienced researchers as well, since it puts together various perspectives
originating from different disciplines: psychology, communication theory,
anthropology, philosophy, cultural studies, social theory and even computer
science. The authors, chose to focus on empirical research in TS; however,
since empirical and conceptual research cannot be completely separated, the
book also discusses theories and concepts. Furthermore, the book  focuses on
synchronic TS, while historical TS are left aside.

The book is divided into seven chapters: an introduction (Chapter 1), a
preliminary section on principles and ethics in research (Chapter 2), four
chapters discussing research methodologies (Chapters 3-6) and conclusions
(Chapter 7), followed by a comprehensive bibliography and a useful index. 

The “Introduction”  presents the motivation, scope and structure of the
volume. First, the authors mention their forerunners, Jenny Williams and
Andrew Chesterman (“The Map: A Beginner’s Guide to Doing Research in
Translation Studies”, 2002) and state the reasons why a new textbook on TS
research was necessary. Since 2002, technological progress, as well as the
growing tendency for interdisciplinarity, has created new methods in
translation research. The structure of the books mirrors the authors’ model of
research in TS. The choice of a specific methodology depends on the object of
study undertaken by a researcher; therefore, research methodologies can be
grouped into four categories: product-oriented, process-oriented,
participant-oriented, and context-oriented. This new model differs from those
currently in use when discussing research in TS, for instance, from the ones
formulated by Chesterman and by Marco.

Chapter 2, “Principles and ethics in research”, is a reflection on problems of
research in general, such as ontology, epistemology, terminology, and ethics.
The choice for a specific methodology depends on the researcher’s view of both
the world and social phenomena. A researcher should ask himself/herself
whether the phenomena that s/he is studying have an existence of their own or
are they mere constructs of the social actors involved, or maybe both? The
authors define key-terms used in research such as ‘model’, ‘framework’,
‘concept’, ‘theory’, ‘typology’, ‘methodology’ and ‘method’ that are still
used ambiguously in many works. Then, the authors discuss the types of
research that may be undertaken (conceptual or empirical, with different
subdivisions) and describe the first preliminary steps: identifying relevant
research questions and formulating hypotheses. Other steps that need attention
are the literature review – not only a summary of the other researchers’
findings, but also a critical perspective on these findings – and data
collection. The authors recommend carrying out a pilot small-scale study prior
to the full-scale data collection, for this enables the researcher to test the
selected methods and  assess the quantity of data needed. After choosing the
best method, an operationalization of research is needed: defining the main
concepts used, establishing the units of data, the units of the analysis,
isolating the target variable. The quality of research work is then discussed
from various perspectives. The authors give an overview of the main factors
that threaten research validity. Lastly, the authors state that reliability,
generalizability, credibility, and warrantability are constant concerns for
researchers, as well as research ethics.

Chapter 3, “Product-oriented research”, comprises the methodological
approaches by which translated texts are investigated, either with a
descriptive or evaluative purpose. Translated texts are the result of
translation or interpreting process: thus, their investigations  may shed some
light on the process as well. Two approaches are analysed in detail: critical
discourse analysis (CDA) and corpus linguistics (CL). CDA seeks to unveil the
social practices hidden in the discourse. The weaknesses of CDA –
non-replicability, the risk of circularity, of partiality and privileged
knowledge – may be overcome by CL, an approach that relies on the use of a
great number of texts. A mixed approach of the two (CDA and CL) is thus
preferred. However, the tools that are currently available in CL are suitable
for analysis of units below the sentence level; therefore, the utility of CL
in TS remains limited. The authors give practical advice for designing studies
in CDA and CL with tips and tricks for each step: formulating a research
hypothesis, choosing the specific method of investigation, choosing the texts,
building corpora, annotating the texts, and aligning the parallel corpora. A
brief outline of the main ideas and concepts put forward by Fairclough and
other CDA theorists precedes the suggestions for the analysis proper. A
corpus-based analysis relies on the use of a certain software, depending on
the researcher’s aim and the size of the corpus. For small corpora, a
so-called ‘concordancer’ (such as Wordsmith) would be enough, while for larger
corpora, an application for annotated corpus resources (such as XAIRA) is
needed. The software provides word indexes, frequency lists, keywords, lexical
density, collocations, and other information about the lexical items.

Another product-oriented approach is quality assessment (QA) of translations.
CDA and CL are mainly descriptive approaches, whereas quality assessment is an
evaluative task with implications in translation practice and teaching. The
key for a successful QA research is measurement validity; the criteria need to
be clearly explained and the variables to be measured should be clearly
isolated. Usually, QA is presented as a series of mismatches or errors or as a
ranking of several translated texts compared to the original.. There has been
some progress towards the elimination of subjective judgements in QA – e.g.
using a large number of persons to annotate a corpus – but there is still much
work to be done in order to establish evaluative criteria that can be verified
in large-scale studies.

Chapter 4, “Process-oriented research”, presents a series of recent methods
and methodologies. The topics addressed by the process-oriented research are
metacognition (i.e. what translators know about their translation processes),
translation competence, working memory, cognitive rhythm, units of
translation, and others that deal with processing tasks in a bilingual brain.
There is no method that gives direct access to the cognitive processes;
however, several methods may give some insight into those processes. The first
methods applied were introspective methods such as think-aloud protocols, i.e.
verbal reports produced either concurrently or retrospectively by the
translator about the translating process. The main problems regarding this
method regard the coding of those verbal reports, an observed inconsistency
between the translator’s report and his/her actual practice, and cultural
bias. Think-aloud protocols are currently used in mix-method research, along
with other automatic tools such as keystroke logging, i.e. a software that
records all the keys pressed and all the movements of the mouse, as well as
the pauses between them. This method indicates the total time of a task, as
well as the time spent in orientation, drafting, and revision, but is most
useful as a path to inferring cognitive effort and the delimitation of
translation units. Another new tool is an eye-tracking device that is able to
record at the level of a millisecond the eye movements and the
dilation/constriction of the pupil, indicating which parts of the screen were
most intensely looked at and for how long. The results of eye tracking
experiments are interpreted in terms of attention, cognitive effort, and
information processing. Some threats to the success of the research and tips
to overcome them are also  presented. It comes as a natural conclusion that
the best results are obtained in a cross-method approach that combines
findings from think-aloud protocols, keystroke logging, and eye-tracking.
Complementary methods such as contextual inquiry, personality profiling, and
physiological measurements may compensate for the weak points of the
mainstream methods.

In Chapter 5, “Participant-oriented research”, another new domain of
translation studies is presented, one that puts together several frameworks
originating from sociology aimed at explaining the interaction between the
human agents, translated texts, and their contexts of production and
reception. The assumption underlying these approaches is that meaning is
constructed by the research participants. The methods are oriented towards the
participants, be they translators, trainers, teachers, students, or even
researchers in TS. Three methods are discussed in detail: questionnaires,
interviews, and focus groups. The strengths and weaknesses of each method are
listed as well as factors for successful research.The authors demonstrate how
to narrow down an abstract research question into a set of complex questions
and then list simple questions that may be asked in an interview, with each
concrete question pointing to a single variable.

Apart from other approaches, these sociology-based methods require special
care in selecting participants and training researchers; tact and good
time-management are two prerequisites. The qualitative analysis has to take
into account risks such as the confirmation bias, elite bias, or going native
(i.e. the researcher gets too close to the participants, to the point where
s/he cannot think independently). Also, the researcher must establish a clear
coding of the data collected. A quantitative analysis has to deal with other
types of challenges including: inappropriate questions, small samples,
incomplete data, and inconsistent or conflicting data. These risks may be
prevented through pilot testing, after which the researcher may notice the
flaws of his/her experiment and redesign it. A mix-methods approach, with
quantitative data supporting qualitative analysis, is desirable.

Chapter 6, “Context-oriented research”, brings forth culturalist and
sociological models that aim to reveal the social, cultural, political, and
ideological forces that shape translation practice, thus closely related to
ethnography, cultural studies and sociology. Case studies are discussed as
specific research methods applicable in both synchronic and historical
research and characterized by the clear delimitation of the unit of analysis
(‘the case’). The case should be a real-life phenomenon, not a concept or a
hypothesis, but it may lead to theoretical conclusions. The object of analysis
may be a text, an individual, a group of translators, an organization etc., as
long as it is set in clearly defined temporal, social, and spatial boundaries.
The case needs to be solidly documented. Several types of sources are
discussed, from classical ones (written sources, verbal reports), to
unconventional ones, such as personal observation and physical artifacts. The
authors give practical suggestions for successful case studies, most of them
pertaining to organizing the research activities. In fact, case studies are
not a free-form research, as they are often seen, but a form of in-depth
analysis that cannot be performed without rigorous preparation. 

Chapter 7, “Conclusions: the research report”, concerns the dissemination of
results, mostly in written form. The authors first discuss the so-called IMRAD
model (introduction, methods, results, and discussion), a classic model of
scientific papers. Although it allows a quick retrieval of information, the
IMRAD model misrepresents the dynamic of thought and discovery. Alternative
models of structuring a report may be used; however, introduction, literature
review, and conclusions should be presented regardless of the model adopted.
Then, each type of research (product-, process-, participant- or
context-oriented) has its specific requirements: a report should contain
concrete information on the methods and resources used, with specific details
for each method (e.g. software type, version model of the equipment) and the
boundaries of the study. Although details are necessary, ethical
considerations about the participants should be respected, e.g. making sure
that the individual participants will not be identified. Writing a research
report requires a certain detachment from one’s work and the ability to put
oneself in the reader’s shoes.

EVALUATION

The book is an overview of the methods currently used in empirical TS.
Although it is a dense book, presenting methods originating from various
disciplines and defining new concepts on almost every page, the reading is
smooth and entertaining. The volume relies on the authors’ practical
experience; therefore, concrete and relevant problems are chosen for
discussion. This is obvious in many sections, especially in Chapter 5, where
the authors present their own experience and difficulties. The book is not a
dull theoretical dissertation on methodologies but a practical guide for
designing experiments with many ‘tips and tricks’. From this point of view,
the book surpasses its primary scope since the guidelines may be applied to
other experimental works. 

Each of the four substantial chapters dedicated to methodologies contains an
overview of the research type under discussion, a presentation of each method
– with its strong and weak points –, some guidelines to design an experiment,
and conclusions, usually suggesting how a mixed-method approach could solve
difficulties. All steps of an experiment, from the first idea until the
interpretation of results, are presented; for each step, warnings are issued
about the risks and solutions are suggested.

The volume has a clear and accessible style that makes it reader-friendly. All
concepts are clearly defined, in simple words, so that no special knowledge is
required to understand them. Therefore, the book accomplishes its main purpose
of representing a starting point for beginners in TS research, regardless of
their academic background or degree. The volume presents a wide range of
methods and thus enables researchers to choose the approach best-suited for
their goals.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Monica Vasileanu is a researcher at the 'Iorgu Iordan - Al. Rosetti' Institute
of Linguistics in Bucharest, Romania. She is currently involved in projects
such as 'Dicţionarul limbii române' (the comprehensive dictionary of Romanian)
and 'Dicţionarul etimologic al limbii române' (the etymological dictionary of
Romanian). She defendend her PhD dissertation in 2012. Her main interests are
in the fields of historical linguistics and of scholarly editing. She also
teaches Romanian language to non-native speakers at the University of
Bucharest.





------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*****************    LINGUIST List Support    *****************
                       Fund Drive 2016
Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
            http://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/

This year the LINGUIST List hopes to raise $79,000. This money 
will go to help keep the List running by supporting all of our 
Student Editors for the coming year.

Don't forget to check out Fund Drive 2016 site!

http://funddrive.linguistlist.org/

For all information on donating, including information on how to 
donate by check, money order, PayPal or wire transfer, please visit:
http://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/

The LINGUIST List is under the umbrella of Indiana University and 
as such can receive donations through the eLinguistics Foundation, 
which is a registered 501(c) Non Profit organization. Our Federal 
Tax number is 45-4211155. These donations can be offset against 
your federal and sometimes your state tax return (U.S. tax payers only). 
For more information visit the IRS Web-Site, or contact your financial 
advisor.

Many companies also offer a gift matching program, such that 
they will match any gift you make to a non-profit organization. 
Normally this entails your contacting your human resources department 
and sending us a form that the eLinguistics Foundation fills in and 
returns to your employer. This is generally a simple administrative 
procedure that doubles the value of your gift to LINGUIST, without 
costing you an extra penny. Please take a moment to check if 
your company operates such a program.

Thank you very much for your support of LINGUIST!
 


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-27-1502	
----------------------------------------------------------