Research Methodologies in Translation Studies

Book excerpt: As an interdisciplinary area of research, translation studies attracts students and scholars with a wide range of backgrounds, who then need to face the challenge of accounting for a complex object of enquiry that does not adapt itself well to traditional methods in other fields of investigation. This book addresses the needs of such scholars – whether they are students doing research at postgraduate level or more experienced researchers who want to familiarize themselves with methods outside their current field of expertise. The book promotes a discerning and critical approach to scholarly investigation by providing the reader not only with the know-how but also with insights into how new questions can be fruitfully explored through the coherent integration of different methods of research. Understanding core principles of reliability, validity and ethics is essential for any researcher no matter what methodology they adopt, and a whole chapter is therefore devoted to these issues. Research Methodologies in Translation Studies is divided into four different chapters, according to whether the research focuses on the translation product, the process of translation, the participants involved or the context in which translation takes place. An introductory chapter discusses issues of reliability, credibility, validity and ethics. The impact of our research depends not only on its quality but also on successful dissemination, and the final chapter therefore deals with what is also generally the final stage of the research process: producing a research report.