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Qualitative research in TS - interdisciplinarity + intermethodology Qualitative research
is based on subjective reports, explanations and interpretations. In TS, we
need qualitative methods, but we cannot make do with only specific, private
findings that cannot be generalized. According to Gile (this website),
"our perception of both 'reality' around us and other people's
statements is distorted and limited by our sensory and cognitive
limitations". Thus, the question is: how can we push back these
limitations and follow the norms of the so-called scientific method,
especially no. 4., according to the aspiration of
objectivity? In other words, how can we, using qualitative methods, move from
the individual, subjective level, represented in individual reports and
interpretations, to a level of, if not objectivity, then at least subject-independency
or inter-subjectivity? Especially regarding the fundamental scientific
problem that data have to be gathered and interpreted by an observer, we also
have to ask the question: how can bias from observers' effects, i.e. his/her
interests, prejudices and attitudes, be minimized or avoided? Additional
questions arise due to the complexity of the field "translation".
In many projects, the connected whole has to be taken into consideration,
because the experimental conditions are complex situations with subjects and
their multifarious individual backgrounds. How can we take such complex
situations with many variables into consideration without renouncing the
possibility of obtaining results that can be comprehended and perhaps
replicated by other scholars? Answers can be found in interdisciplinarity,
and especially in intermethodology. Translation
in itself is an interdiscipline (Snell-Hornby 1986: 18), in the sense that the complex
phenomenon consists of inseparably connected aspects from different disciplines
like linguistics, culture, communication and terminology. In TS, these
disciplines are always relevant and thus an inherent part of the research
issue translation. But interdisciplinarity can also be understood differently,
i.e. as an attempt to adopt methods and ideas from other disciplines bearing
some resemblance to the multifaceted TS. Disciplines like psychology,
sociology, cognitive sciences and health care share our questions as to
research methods, because they also deal with complex issues involving
individuals' attitudes, behaviour and reports. This kind of interdisciplinarity means that research issues, apart
from and in addition to the usually "inseparable disciplines", can
be investigated from different angles, using knowledge, methods, tools and
techniques from different paradigms and disciplines, which at first glance
might seem to have little in common with translation. Qualitative
methods are used in many disciplines in social sciences, psychology, human
sciences and also in natural sciences. Especially in approaches close to
empirical research, such as phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography,
psychology of perception and consciousness studies, great efforts have been
made to accommodate qualitative research to some "scientific"
norms; a balancing act between the special purpose and conditions of
qualitative research on the one hand, and the requirements of natural
sciences as to exactness, reliability, validity and credibility on the other
hand. These empirical approaches from other disciplines provide us with
useful discussions, attitudes, techniques and procedures. Most important for
TS are: precise and transparent description, reflective attitude,
communication techniques, coding procedures and combinations and triangulations
of methods and data. References
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