“What Did She Say? What Did She Say?” the Impact of Interpretation on Recruiting and Interviewing European Migrant Women in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Although a few researchers mention that involving interpreters can have an impact on the research process and research findings, little is published regarding methods of assessing the interpretation work's quality and impact. The impact of lay volunteer interpreters used in audiorecorded semistructured interviews on collecting data and the data quality and subsequent analysis is examined. A new systematic approach is presented comparing original interview transcripts (conducted with volunteer interpreters) with independent transcripts, reinterpretations by professional interpreters. Findings indicate that involving volunteer interpreters had an impact on the validity and reliability of a portion of the data, the subsequent analysis, and some practical research aspects. Researchers involving interpreters should pay careful attention to the interpreters' influence on the research, the data produced, and critically bring this to bear in their analysis and interpretation. The systematic comparative approach is a cost-effective tool that can be used successfully to examine the influence's effects.

Involving interpreters in research studies

“…An interpreter drawn from the community of the interviewees can engender trust, respect and credibility, or equally mistrust and anxieties about confidentiality. 8,11 Preparation Interpreters need to understand the aims of the research, their role, be familiar with the interview schedule 4,11 and understand confidentiality. Other issues that might be discussed include how much autonomy the interpreter has regarding asking follow-up questions, the principles of qualitative research and the difference between open and closed questions.…”

“…However, interpreters have their own interests and perspectives, and the more autonomy they have, the greater the effect on the validity of the data and the more the researcher's control over the interview is reduced. 5,6,11 This is compounded when, for linguistic necessity, there are several interpreters working on one study who may have different understandings of the aim of the research and different priorities for information.…”

“…An interpreter drawn from the community of the interviewees can engender trust, respect and credibility, or equally mistrust and anxieties about confidentiality. 8,11…”

“…Interpreters need to understand the aims of the research, their role, be familiar with the interview schedule 4,11 and understand confidentiality. Other issues that might be discussed include how much autonomy the interpreter has regarding asking follow-up questions, the principles of qualitative research and the difference between open and closed questions.…”

“…Other issues that might be discussed include how much autonomy the interpreter has regarding asking follow-up questions, the principles of qualitative research and the difference between open and closed questions. 4,9,11,13,14 Some written guidance might be useful but this might deskill them if it is too prescriptive.…”