Posted by
jillian on Mar 30, 2009 in
Issue no.1 , March 2009,
Volume 08 |
Comments Off on Grounding the Translation: Intertwining analysis and translation in cross-language grounded theory research
Svetlana Shklarov, MD, RSW, PhD Candidate Abstract Grounded theory research in cross-language, cross-cultural context is associated with the challenges of linguistic sensitivity of conceptualization. The author, a bilingual researcher, offers reflection on her experience of doing grounded theory research, assuming a dual role of a theorist and a translator. The reflection is based on self-observations. Grounding the translation is shown to be acheived through the strategy of intertwining the activities of translation and conceptual analysis, performed by one person. The two activities are inseparable in time and take place along with constant comparison across language boundaries. Intertwining requires that theoretical sensitivity of the researcher be enriched with the sensitivity to linguistic and cultural meanings. Intertwining, through revealing differences between linguistic meanings or language structures, facilitates the emergence of concepts and theoretical categories from the very act of translation. Combining the functions of translation and analysis and using the strategy of intertwining worked effectively for this researcher. Introduction Translation has been so much a part of qualitative research in multicultural settings that we rarely give heed to the depth of processes involved in cross-language data collection and analysis. Certain aspects are better understood than others. The most common, traditional concern is the accuracy and equivalency of information transferred from one language to another – the quality and ethics of translation (e.g., Houbert, 1998; Hunt & Bhopal, 2004). More recently researchers began to analyze the challenges of representation across languages, multiple interpretations, reflexivity, and the integral role of the translator (e.g., Friedrich, 1992; Mc Laughlin & Sall, 2001; Muula, 2005; Temple & Edwards, 2002). In this article I present a reflection on my experience of conducting grounded theory research, as a sole bilingual researcher with monolingual participants. Through analyzing my self-observations in this project, which I was conducting for my PhD, I examined the aspects of translation in cross-language grounded theory study. In this study I explored life stories narrated by Russian-speaking Holocaust survivors, recent émigrés from the Former Soviet Union. My research design involved a full combination of translation and analysis, in which I assumed the position of a bilingual investigator who performed both functions. In such setting, a theory emerges from the data written (or spoken) in the language of monolingual participants that is unknown to the audience (the source language). Research results are presented in the language of the audience (the target language). There are no specific prescribed procedures for translation in the context of grounded theory research. Therefore, I experimented in my study with some patterns of working in cross-language area, using my previous experiences in translation. I applied more systematically those patterns that worked for me, and observed how these patterns fit into the analysis. In my research, I have found that doing cross-language grounded theory involves strategies that differ from those involved in traditionally understood translation. My experimenting led me to the discovery of a strategy that emerged naturally in my work, namely, the intertwining of the activities of translation and conceptual analysis. Both translation and conceptual analysis were activities, or acts, which I performed as a bilingual person (in that, these were both my functions). Intertwining these activities was the strategy that I used to achieve better grounding of my translation in cross-language data, while discovering a grounded theory. In this article I analyze some properties of the strategy of intertwining, and reflect on the relevant features of language translation in this context. In my attempts to reflect on my experiences doing this research,...