Research trends, process and questions

1. Some trends in TS research 2. Introduction to the research process 3. Focus on research questions • Getting ideas • Refining initial idea • Formulating questions • Questions vs. hypotheses

Research trends

Trends in humanities and TS research

• Interest in impact of phenomena on human life • Tendency towards self-reflexivity • Recognition of the role of subjectivity in scientific research • Legitimation of scientific research as form of political action • Concern with methodology, esp. need to balance subjectivity and objectivity • Rejection of neat categories and idealised constructs; recognition of complexity • Stress on inter/multidisciplinarity Baker 2001

Implications for research

• Questioning of normative approaches; increased attention to human agency • Increased interest in questions of ideology and ethics • Increased interest in and respect for qualitative (as opposed to quantitative) methods of research Baker 2001

The future of translation studies research?

Tymoczko (2005) – Suggests 6 areas of translation research for the future Tymoczko 2005

1. Attempts to define translation (1)

• Encompasses examinations of linguistic, literary and cultural facets of translation • Approach may focus on translation product (e.g. corpus-based studies, descriptive historical studies) or on translation process (e.g. TAP analysis, studies of translators) Tymoczko 2005

1. Attempts to define translation (2)

• Predicted that these approaches retain usefulness: we continue to learn new things about translation through these studies • In studying processes and products of translation in different places, times and cultures, we can test prescriptive or normative statements about translation • Beyond defining, we want to know more about the concept of translation and its fuzzy boundaries (cf. Halverson 1999); translation as a cluster concept Tymoczko 2005: 1084-5

2. Internationalisation of translation

• Evident in conferences, publications and organisations (e.g. IATIS) • Some non-Western approaches have very different concepts of translation and different associations • From research perspective, we need to move beyond and challenge Western assumptions about translation • More non-Eurocentric studies of translation required (e.g. Cheung 2005) Tymoczko 2005

3. TS responding to technology and globalisation • Technological advances result in changes in conceptualisation of translation (e.g. Cronin 2003) • Changes in translation modes, e.g. shift from individual translators to team translation via electronic networks – some non-Western models foreground teamwork aspect of translation • English as lingua franca (e.g. Baumgarten, House and Probst 2004) • Importance of multimedia brings greater focus on intersemiotic translation Tymoczko 2005

4. New perspectives from other disciplines

• Historically, TS adapts frames from other disciplines – e.g. linguistics, systems theories, discourse theory, cultural studies, sociology etc.

– also smaller frames, e.g. rewriting, representation • Predicted to continue and become more self-reflexive Tymoczko 2005

5. Relationship of TS to cognitive science

• Study of perception, expert systems, etc.

• implications: more self reflexivity in translator training • Predicted growth area due to large body of research in cognitive science Tymoczko 2005

6. Relationship of TS to neurophysiology

• Studying the brain – monolingual vs. bilingual – brain activity during translation • MRI and PET scans • Predicted growth area as the technology becomes more commonplace; shift from focus on individuals to groups Tymoczko 2005

Common features of trends

• Increased interdisciplinarity – beyond linguistics and cultural studies, to social sciences and life sciences • Move away from narrow Western perspectives • Translation as cluster concept and open field, becoming ever more diverse – need for greater sophistication as regards research structures, methods – more overt discussion of methodology – more flexible, less prescriptive translation pedagogy Tymoczko 2005

The research process

What does research achieve?

• Provides new data • Proposes a new idea • Suggests an answer to a specific question • Tests or refines an existing hypothesis • Proposes and justifies a new hypothesis • Proposes a new methodology • Proposes a new theory Williams and Chesterman 2002: 6-47

Research process: social science perspective

• Problem • Hypothesis • Research design • Measurement • Data collection • Data analysis • Generalisation Frankfort-Nachmias and Nachmias 1996: 20)

Research process: translation studies perspective

• Identify issue of interest • Formulate research question(s) or hypotheses • Identify relevant theoretical framework or concepts, possible data and methods of analysis • Collect data • Analyse data • Process results, draw conclusions, answer research questions

Formulating research questions

Getting ideas for research

• Identify area of own interest • Explore current state of research in the area – resources: human, library/IT and professional • Find out if it’s feasible to work in that area – scope – resources – time Williams and Chesterman 2002: 6-47

Refining the initial idea

• Contextualising the idea – To what general area does the topic belong?

– What are the different parts of the topic?

– How are they related?

– What is the history of the topic?

– What are the main categories of the topic?

– What are the main concepts for the topic? • Name it – be able to answer what, how and why questions, e.g. – I am working on X because I want to find out why/what/how… in order to understand why/how/whether… Williams and Chesterman 2002: 6-47

Research questions

• Formulate questions which our research will answer – often one overarching question and several subquestions – they relate specifically to our study – it must be possible to answer those questions by the end of the project – questions may need to be refined as we proceed • Use research questions when we are not explicitly predicting the outcome • Questions are useful when we wish to explore and describe data • Use hypothesis if we can formulate specific answer or expectation

Hypotheses

• Hypothesis = tentative answer to a research problem, expressed in terms of relations between variables – independent variable= variable you might try to control; variable which causes change in the dependent one; starting point in a comparison – dependent variable = variable which depends on the independent variable • Hypotheses help us to generalise • We propose and test a hypothesis, then – hypothesis is supported; accept into body of knowledge OR – hypothesis is rejected; new hypothesis can be proposed, tested…

How are hypotheses and questions derived?

• Deductively, from theories, from literature • Inductively, from direct observations • By intuition • By a combination of these

Testing hypotheses – ACID Test

A = Added value, i.e. does the hypothesis add to our understanding of the phenomenon?

C = Comparative value, i.e. in what respects is it better than competing hypotheses?

I = Internal value, i.e. is it logical, plausible, with no unnecessary assumptions?

D = Data, i.e. does it cover a wider variety of data than competing hypotheses; does it correspond better to the empirical evidence?

Williams and Chesterman 2002

For reflection

• Identify your area(s) of interest in translation or interpreting studies • Identify some topic(s) of interest within your chosen area • Try to make these topics more precise, e.g. by identifying specific parts of the topics which are of most interest • Think about questions on these topics which you would like to explore further

Reading

Tymoczko, Maria (2005) ‘ Trajectories of Research in Translation Studies ’, Meta 50(4): 1082-1097.

Williams, Jenny and Andrew Chesterman (2002) The Map: A beginner’s guide to doing research in translation studies, Manchester: St. Jerome.

and at least one of the following publications by Chesterman: Chesterman, Andrew (2001) ‘ Empirical Research Methods in Translation Studies -------- (2000b) ‘ ’, Erikoiskielet ja käännösteoria (VAKKI symposiumi XX) 27, 9-22.

-------- (2000a) ‘A Causal Model for Translation Studies, in Maeve Olohan (ed.) Intercultural Faultlines. Research models in translation studies I: Textual and cognitive aspects. Manchester: St. Jerome, pp.15-27.

What Constitutes “Progress” in Translation Studies?

’, in Birgitta Englund Dimitrova (ed.), Översättning och tolkning.

Rapport från ASLA:s höstsymposium, Stockholm, 5-6 november

1998. Uppsala: ASLA, pp. 33-49.

-------- (1998) ‘Causes, Translations, Effects’, Target 10(2): 201-230.

Other references

Baker, Mona (2001) ‘The Pragmatics of Cross-cultural Contact and Some False Dichotomies in Translation Studies’, CTIS Occasional Papers 1: 7-20. Baumgarten, Nicole, Juliane House and Julia Probst (2004) ‘English as Lingua Franca in Covert Translation Processes’, The Translator 10(1): 83-108.

Cheung, Martha P.Y. (2005) ‘ -------- (2004) ‘ ‘To Translate’ Means ‘to Exchange’? A new interpretation of the earliest Chinese attempts to define translation’ and New York: Routledge.

, Target 17(1): 27-48 Cronin, Michael (2003) Translation and Globalisation, London Frankfort-Nachmias, Chava and David Nachmias (1996) Research Methods in the Social Sciences, London: Arnold. Halverson, Sandra (1999) ‘Conceptual Work and the “Translation” Concept, Target 11(1): 1-31.

Assumed Translation: Reconciling Komissarov and Toury and moving a step forward Manchester: St. Jerome, pp. 9-25.

’, Target 16(2): 341-354.

Tymoczko, Maria (2002) ‘Connecting the Two Infinite Orders: Research Methods in Translation Studies’, in Theo Hermans (ed.) Crosscultural Transgressions. Research Models in Translation Studies II: Historical and Ideological Issues,

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