Research Methods in Translation and Interpreting Studies

This volume offers a comprehensive view of current research directions in Translation and Interpreting Studies, outlining the theoretical concepts underpinning that research and presenting detailed discussions of the various methods used.

Organized around three factors that are responsible for shaping the study of translation and interpreting today―post-positivist theoretical approaches, developments in the language industry, and technological innovations―this volume is divided into three parts:

• Part I introduces the basic concepts organizing translation and interpreting research, such as the difference between qualitative and quantitative research, between product-oriented and process-oriented studies, and between prescriptive and descriptive approaches.
• Part II provides a theoretical mapping of current translation and interpreting research, covering the theories underlying the current conceptualization of translation and interpreting, from queer studies to cognitive science.
• Part III explores the key methodological approaches to research in Translation and Interpreting Studies, including corpus-based, longitudinal, observational, and ethnographic studies, as well as survey and focus group-based studies.

The international range of contributors are all leading research experts who use the methodologies in their work. They present the research aims of these methods, offer sample research questions that can―and cannot―be addressed by these methods, and discuss modes of data collection and analysis. This is an essential reference for all advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, and researchers in Translation and Interpreting Studies.

Claudia V. Angelelli is Chair in Multilingualism and Communication at Heriot-Watt University, UK. Her publications include Medical Interpreting and Cross-cultural Communication (2004) and Re-visiting the Interpreter’s Role (2004). She is the co-editor of Testing and Assessment in Translation and Interpreting Studies (2009).

Brian James Baer is Professor of Russian and Translation Studies at Kent State University, USA. He is founding editor of the scholarly journal Translation and Interpreting Studies and author of the monograph Translation and the Making of Modern Russian Literature (2015). He is also the co-editor of Russian Writers on Translation (Routledge, 2013).