Reconsidering Translation—Still a Conundrum?: Enhancing Validity in Transcultural Data Analysis

Location

DeSantis Room 3028

Format Type

Plenary

Format Type

Paper

Start Date

16-1-2020 8:45 AM

End Date

16-1-2020 9:05 AM

Abstract

Contemporary qualitative researchers very often work cross cultures and nation-states to understand the lived experience of diverse social groups. By doing that, researchers navigate a complex linguistic landscape comprised of multiple languages and accents. Translation then becomes a necessary procedure for researchers to disseminate findings; meanwhile, it is also viewed as an insurmountable conundrum. In this paper, I interrogate the role of translation in qualitative data analysis and ask the following questions: How shall we as researchers maintain our cultural sensitivity in our translation practice? What are some of the moments in our transcultural/translation experience that we can identify to enhance the validity of our data analysis? How shall we turn the conundrum of translation into an opportunity to reconstruct the cultural meaning of our data?

Utilizing a long-term critical qualitative study that I conducted in North China between 2011 and 2017 as an example, I demonstrate how the transcultural meaning-making process started as early as I was still in my field site, resulting in the creation of field notes that intimately weaved together two languages and local accents. Then I revisit my data analysis process to identify moments that I was stuck by translation issues. A careful reflection of these moments shows that we could turn the perplexing moments into productive opportunities of reconstructing the cultural meanings of our data, as long as we are open to the inherent in-translatability of the data.

Keywords

qualitative data analysis; validity; translation; transcultural studies; language; reconstructive analysis

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Jan 16th, 8:45 AM Jan 16th, 9:05 AM

Reconsidering Translation—Still a Conundrum?: Enhancing Validity in Transcultural Data Analysis

DeSantis Room 3028

Contemporary qualitative researchers very often work cross cultures and nation-states to understand the lived experience of diverse social groups. By doing that, researchers navigate a complex linguistic landscape comprised of multiple languages and accents. Translation then becomes a necessary procedure for researchers to disseminate findings; meanwhile, it is also viewed as an insurmountable conundrum. In this paper, I interrogate the role of translation in qualitative data analysis and ask the following questions: How shall we as researchers maintain our cultural sensitivity in our translation practice? What are some of the moments in our transcultural/translation experience that we can identify to enhance the validity of our data analysis? How shall we turn the conundrum of translation into an opportunity to reconstruct the cultural meaning of our data?

Utilizing a long-term critical qualitative study that I conducted in North China between 2011 and 2017 as an example, I demonstrate how the transcultural meaning-making process started as early as I was still in my field site, resulting in the creation of field notes that intimately weaved together two languages and local accents. Then I revisit my data analysis process to identify moments that I was stuck by translation issues. A careful reflection of these moments shows that we could turn the perplexing moments into productive opportunities of reconstructing the cultural meanings of our data, as long as we are open to the inherent in-translatability of the data.