Transcript INITIATION A LA RECHERCHE EMPIRIQUE EN TRADUCTOLOGIE

Fundamental approaches (‘cultures’)
in TS research
[email protected]
www.cirinandgile.com
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Why science? (1)
Learning about the world around us
Directly, through sensory perception and cognitive processing of
sensory input
Indirectly, when listening to others, reading them, imitating them
In all these cases, there is sensory perception, if only of other
people’s statements and action, followed by cognitive
processing
(The brain processes signals received through the senses and
interprets them)
SENSORY LIMITATIONS
COGNITIVE LIMITATIONS
AFFECTIVE INTERFERENCE
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Why science? (2)
Hence a risk of acquisition of
- Incomplete knowledge
- Incorrect knowledge
How to improve it?
- Physical tools
(Glasses, parabolic antennas, X-rays, IR, smoke sensors,
vibration sensors, telescopes, computers, spectrometers,
chemical tests…)
- Organizational tools
(Lists, tables, procedures…)
- Intellectual tools
Mathematics, rationales…
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Why science? (3)
Science acknowledges limitations in our ability to explore
reality
It attempts to push them back as far as possible
- With physical, organizational, intellectual tools
- With approaches built around norms
- Fundamental norms
(principles)
- Implementation norms
(apply to techniques and operational norms)
- With institutional tools
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Fundamental norms of Canonical (idealized) science
Science is skeptical, and therefore rigorous:
- Systematic
- Cautious
- Objective to the best possible extent
- Logical (using Cartesian logic)
Science is descriptive, explanatory and if possible predictive
it is not prescriptive
But scientists can take prescriptive positions as citizens
– not within the framework of their research
Science is collective
- Communicative
- Critical
- Explicit
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These norms are central to CSA (1)
…so CSA researchers are supposed to always check, inter alia :
That they have done everything they could with the resources
they have:
- To collect as much relevant information (relevant to the their
research questions) as possible
- To make sure they have measured everything they have
measured as rigorously and as objectively as possible
- To make sure they have considered all possible interpretations
of phenomena they observed instead of just one that they like
- To make sure their inferences are justified
- To make sure they distinguish clearly between what they know
and what they believe
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These norms are central to CSA (2)
For instance:
- That they have read all relevant publications available to them
- That they have understood them correctly
- That they have resisted resisted the temptation to be influenced
by their favorite theory to explain a phenomenon without
considering other explanations
- That they have chosen a representative sample if possible
- If the sample is not representative, that they have been careful
not to overgeneralize
- That they have taken on board all the data they have collected
…
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These norms are central to CSA (3)
More generally:
CSA researchers systematically seek potential weaknesses in
their work and in other authors’ work
For the purpose of doing away with them or mitigating their
effects
This is a fundamental feature of the Canonical scientific approach
which was initially developed in the natural sciences, and in
particular in physics,
.. And later adopted in other research fields, inter alia in
experimental psychology, in some branches of sociology, of
education science etc…
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“Scientific” or not?
For some followers of CSA, any research which does not abide
by its norms is not ‘scientific’
For some, such research is “only” “philosophy”, “literature”,
“violin playing”
When it abides by some institutional academic norms prevalent in
the humanities, I will refer to it as
HSA (Human Science Approaches)
Though it is not exclusive to the humanities,
And though CSA can also be found in the humanities
Some TS scholars reject this distinction
and resent what they see as connotations of such a distinction
I prefer to make it nevertheless because it exists
and refusing to acknowledge it can lead to communication
problems within the discipline
and to a loss of quality in research
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CLASSIFICATIONS
Basic Research / Applied Research:
Exploring reality vs Changing reality
Theoretical / Empirical :
The emphasis is on concepts, not on data / Data, its collection,
analysis and processing are central
Note: Empirical research
Essentially serves theory
By helping develop it and/or test it
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Empirical research
Research work which essentially attempts to find answers to
research question through the collection and/or analysis of data
More specifically,
Through the analysis of a well-defined, explicitly presented
dataset as the sole basis for inferences made
Empirical research is generally (but not always) assessed with
reference to SCA norms
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Empirical research
Evidence to show global warming
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Theoretical research
Research activity which essentially attempts to find answers to
research question through reflection on observed facts and on
other authors’ ideas
Relevant facts are not required to be well-defined or presented
explicitly
Note that theoretical research can be part of th SCA approach
Upstream of more specific formalization and empirical testing
When such theoretical research is all there is to a research project,
it can generally be classified as SHA
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The canonical scientific cycle
Initial observations
↓
Tentative generalization (Theory)
↓
(Empirical) testing of the theory
↓
Improvement/change of theory
↓
Test of new theory
↓
….
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Canonical scientific cycle
Initial observations
(Essentially Empirical)
↓
Tentative generalization
(Theoretical reflection)
↓
Testing of the theory
(Empirical, often with a theoretical parts)
↓
Improvement/change of theory
(Theoretical)
↓
Testing of new theory
(Empirical and theoretica)
↓
….approaches
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The real scientific cycle
Also depends on social factors
Groups with influence, power structures, subjectivity
Thomas Kuhn :
The structure of scientific revolutions
Paradigm determined by scientists in power
Stability and resistance to new ideas
Until they are overturned, a new generation of scientists takes
control of the power and established a new paradigm
… ever-recurring cycle
This is not necessarily “bad”
Prevents excessive fluctuations in theories…
but can slow down progression considerably
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HSA – Some features (1)
Essentially conceptual/theoretical rather than empirical
but empirical components may be present as well
And sometimes, HSA studies are essentially empirical…
(when they look at field data, and when they look at writings by
other academic authors as data)
but not compliant with CSA norms
They interpret field data with much less caution and restraint
than CSA studies
Data are used mostly for illustration purposes or to provide
contradicting evidence when criticizing a theory
Generally no comprehensive and systematic analysis of a corpus
No systematic caution when inferencing on the basis of data
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HSA – some features (2)
Starting point is often existing ideas, theories or statements (as
opposed to data) and criticism thereof
Often lead to
- Classifications
In CSA, classifications are generally used for exploratory
purposes, not as an end per se
- Theories
- Sometimes to prescriptive positions
(CSA leads more often to better factual knowledge, to new
theories, to empirical research methods)
Progression is achieved mainly through debates between authors
(In CSA, mostly through acquisition of data and inferences on
that basis)
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DE FACTO HSA norms
- Rigorous, meticulous work when presenting facts and rationale
- HSA is communicative
- Caution and objectivity less central than in CSA.
In some cases, subjectivity is encouraged
- No fundamental objection to making claims on the basis of a
few examples (unlike CSA)
(such claims can be contradicted with counter-examples by other
authors)
- (In opposition to CSA norm), inferences can be made on the
basis of positions inferred by readers of scholarly papers – as
opposed to positions actually spelled out, as in CSA
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Some HSA authors in TS
(excluding ESIT)
EUGENE NIDA
GEORGES MOUNIN
JEAN-RENE LADMIRAL
HANS VERMEER
KATARINA REISS
ANDREW CHESTERMAN
MARY SNELL-HORNBY
GIDEON TOURY
ANTHONY PYM
THEO HERMANS
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Some CSA authors in TS
(excluding ESIT)
KRINGS
LÖRSCHER
GYDE HANSEN
SONJA TIRKKONEN-CONDIT
BIRGITTA ENGLUND-DIMITROVA
JORMA TOMMOLA
FRANCO FABBRO
PRESENTACION PADILLA
BARBARA MOSER-MERCER
SYLVIE LAMBERT
ALEXANDER KÜNZLI
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Professional/personal experience, Reflection,
Generalization (PRG)
Common among practitioners of translation and interpreting
Based on considerable experience and reflection
Which gives them:
- Very good knowledge of relevant phenomena
- Solid gut feeling about them
- The ability to interpret correctly observed phenomena
- The ability to assess the relative importance and frequency of
occurrence of such phenomena in the field
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PRG – A professional, non-academic approach
In the literature, some papers and books written on this basis.
These are ‘professional’ rather than academic texts, but they
are not without merit
They consist of descriptions, reflection, sometimes prescriptions.
They sometimes offer data to illustrate ideas or make points, but
not in a systematic, cautious way as in CSA
Reflection is not quite deep and systematic enough to qualify as
theoretical in academic terms, and there is little engagement
with existing theories
PRG authors sometimes evolve into HSA or CSA
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A comparison of the advantages of each approach
CSA
Lower subjectivity, replicability of empirical findings, stability
of findings in each step of the research process
HSA
Fast progression, creativity without the constraint of having to
demonstrate empirically the truth of each claim, possibility of
addressing phenomena which are difficult to identify as data
and to quantify
PRG
Fast progression in the initial steps because of the
professionals’ good personal knowledge of the relevant
phenomena and environment
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Is one approach better than the other?
No…
Each has its pluses and minuses
Which make it better suited to different types of research
In TS, defensive attitude of many HSA scholars who are worried
about CSA taking over with its norms
The risk is probably low
There is little data to justify the worry:
Over time, the proportion of empirical studies in TS has been
increasing
But there is also more HSA research, and HSA is still going
strong
(bibliometrical data)
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Why draw your attention to the three ‘poles’?
Because :
TS is still in the making, not quite mature as a research discipline
The three types of approaches are found in the TS literature
Representatives of all three meet and read each other
If they do not understand each other’s approaches and underlying
norms:
- Communication problems
- Insufficient consideration and respect for scholars from
other approaches
- Sometimes clashes which could be avoided
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Theoretical categories and actual texts
All TS texts cannot be categorized as CSA, HSA, PRG.
Some are state-of-the-art reviews, analyses, didactic texts and do
not report research in the narrow sense of the term. Some do
report research but are not quite compliant with the norms of
one research approach
Authors can and do write in more than one category of texts,
though one’s ‘style’ can often be identified as closer to CSA
or HSA
The theoretical advantages of each approach are effective only if
researchers do good work. In particular, in the literature,
there are many CSA texts which are not rigorous and
cautious enough – and HSA texts which are
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Beginners remember
The norms for CSA, HSA and PRG are not the same
That PRG is generally not seen as academic research
When you start a research project such as a graduation or MA
thesis or doctoral dissertation,
If your supervisor is a trained researcher, you will be guided and
assessed on the basis of a set of rules which are either CSA or
HSA
The way you are supposed to go about seeking an answer to your
research questions is not the same in the two categories
What is appropriate in one will often be criticized in another
Seeking a ‘middle way’ is not really a good option
because it will probably lead to weaknesses from both viewpoints
The best way is to make a deliberate choice
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