Research Issues in TS

Message from the initiator of this section

This section has a dual function: on one hand, it is a forum for discussion of research issues; on the other, it is intended as a continuation of the EST Newsletter’s “Beginner’s corner”, with short introductions to /explanations about methodological issues in research.

Discussion is an essential part of research, and input from colleagues, young and old, is always welcome as a contribution to the community. Short pieces in this section reflect their authors' views at the time they are posted, and are essentially published for the purpose of providing such input and stimulating discussion. They are not to be seen as final statements, and may be changed or withdrawn at any time at the request of their author(s).

All members are invited to contribute short texts (preferably less than 500 words) in any language (subject to limitations in the character sets that can be supported technically) as input to the discussion.

D. Gile
daniel.gile@yahoo.com

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Content

CITATIONS

• Citations and references talk (May 8, 2006)
• Choosing citations and references: a communications view (December 27, 2006)

EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH

• How to choose the most relevant parameters to be controlled in an empirical study (August 12, 2006)

LIBERAL ARTS AND EMPIRICAL SCIENCE/RESEARCH

■ Conceptual definitions and operational definitions (November 28, 2009)

■ Of awareness-raising and divisiveness (August 30, 2009)

• The Empirical Science Paradigm and the Liberal Arts Paradigm in Translation Studies (December 29, 2008)
• Hypotheses and research questions in empirical TS research (February 9, 2008)
• Humanities and ESP: the case of History (January 21, 2008)
• Extra-paradigmatic academic texts in TS (November 30, 2007)
• Critical reading as research (January 30, 2007)
• The liberal arts paradigm and the empirical science paradigm (January 22, 2006)
• Translation research: LAP versus/with ESP? (October 22, 2005)
• Translation research commentary (August 17, 2005)
• Description – examples from empirical TS (June 2, 2005)
• Description (April 26, 2005)
• "Scientific facts" (January 22, 2005)
• Institutional measures for norm enforcement (January 5, 2005)
• Scientific norms (December 8, 2004)
• Combination and Triangulation of Methods and Data (December 29, 2005)
• Where is the evidence? On one limitation of empirical research paradigms (December 19, 2008)
• What makes empirical research scientific? (March 28, 2009)
• Norms for good research (July 7, 2010)

PROBABILITY AND SAMPLING

• More about causality and probability (July 26, 2007)
• When is a law probabilistic? (November 27, 2005)
• Sampling 1: Sampling-based studies as case studies (July 12, 2006)
• Sampling 2: Generalizing from case studies (July 18, 2006)
• Sampling 3: The effect of bias in samples (September 8, 2006)
• Sampling 4: How big should a sample be? (November 14, 2006)

PUBLISHING

• Editors, peer reviewers and authors (April 2008)
• Conference Proceedings: papers or reports? (March 2008)
• Re-evaluating graduation theses in TS (May 2007)
• Less-than-ideally-competent assessors in TS (April 2007)
• Publishers and Academics: Partnerships or Power Relationships? (February 19, 2006)
• Contracts with publishers - Fundamentals (April 2, 2005)
• Editing collective volumes (September 2005)
• Creating an electronic journal: opportunities and challenges. The story of Jostrans, The Journal of Specialised Translation (September 2005)
• Publishing in TS: the authors’ and referees’ viewpoint (September 2005)
• Peer reviewing (September 2005)
• Editing TS journals (September 2005)
• The editorial process through the looking glass (September 2004)

QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

• “Qualitative research” vs. “Quantitative research”: a false dichotomy? (March 15, 2007)
• Qualitative research in TS - interdisciplinarity + intermethodology (March 2, 2005)
• Qualitative research, methods and data (February 23, 2005)
• Qualitative and Quantitative Research and Empirical Translation Studies (February 17, 2005)

SUPERVISION

• The psychological aspect of supervision (September 2004)
• Formalising supervision – A step towards better quality? (September 2004)
• Results of surveys of research students (September 2004)
• First encounters in supervision (September 2004)
• Standardization of supervision procedures: the cross-cultural perspective (September 2004)
• Code of practice for the assurance of academic quality and standards in higher education (September 2004)
• PhD contract, University of Helsinki (September 2004)

SURVEYS

• Do respondents to surveys tell the truth? (February 16, 2006)
• Developing questions for surveys (April 4, 2006)
• Reasons for piloting questionnaires (March 30, 2006)

TERMINOLOGY

• Terminology (July 30, 2005)

TEXTS

▪ Text Perspectives and Translation (November 1, 2006)

OTHER TOPICS

Preliminary ideas for a TS journal ranking system (September 2, 2009)

• Rigorous caution in TS research (December 2007)
• Doctoral vivas and marks (October 31, 2007)
• On the use of theories in research (September 28, 2007)
• Do research projects need to be socially useful? (August 6, 2007)
• “Nice English” (May 27, 2007)

§ Of congress abstracts and papers (February 7, 2007)

§ Translationland (October 2, 2006)

• A note on explanation (October 1, 2006)
• Observing visualisations (June 8, 2005)
• Ideas for a TS publishers ranking system (September 3, 2008)
• Do TS researchers need to be Translators? (October 10, 2008)
• Outsiders in Translation Research (November 11, 2008)
• Overkill and collateral damage in empirical research (June 2, 2010)