Factores no ambientales

According to Hertog and van der Veer (2006), the first Critical Link Conference in Canada in 1995 was a landmark in establishing PSI as a research field, and since then, many studies have been conducted with a wide range of methods being used. Liu (2011) acknowledges the array of methods used, which, she argues, are mainly evidence-based. To make such a claim, she examined forty-eight articles published in the journal Interpreting between 2004 and 2009. She concludes that studies are anchored within a qualitative rather than quantitative paradigm slightly

104 more often (a twenty-six to twenty-two ratio), although ten adopted a quantitative and qualitative approach in order to triangulate their data. Furthermore, she lists a wide range of methods that have been used in IS, although some (such as

interviews) are more frequently used than others (e.g. biographies).

Such an array of methods was a salient feature when reviewing the existing PSI literature for this doctoral thesis. For instance, methods consisted of:

• examining consecutive interpreting notes or interpreted discourse as texts (Albl-Mikasa, 2008; Wadensjö, 1998);

• experimental approaches anchored within a quantitative paradigm (Braun & Taylor, 2011a);

• survey research with varying degrees of response rates and different target population (for instance, Ozolins (2004) received 150 filled-in

questionnaires from practising interpreters, whilst Mesa (2000) who sent the questionnaire to a wider community, including health practitioners and patients, gathered 394 responses);

• ethnography and participant observation (Berk-Seligson (1990) spent seven months recording court proceedings, and Angelelli (2004) recorded over 300 interpreter-mediated medical appointments over twenty-two months); • focus groups (Angelelli (2006) used four focus groups with healthcare

interpreters to examine dilemmas between role, ethics, and expectations in Californian hospitals), interviews with a varying number of interviewees (Edwards et al. (2005) interviewed fifty participants, whilst Guéry (2014) interviewed eleven public service interpreters as part of her doctoral study).

In line with Liu (2011)’s research, it was also noted that many studies adopted a mixed method approach when collecting their data. This could combine participant observations with interviews (Angelelli, 2004; Fowler, 2012), focus groups with interviews (Tipton, 2011), or even called upon a qualitative and quantitative approach through the use of questionnaires and court recording analysis (Christensen, 2008). Hale and Napier (2013) argue that this mixed method

approach is particularly used in social science. As IS is anchored partially in social science, especially since the social turn whereby studies focus on interpreter-

105 mediated interactions (Pöchhacker, 2008b), it is not surprising that mixed method approaches are being widely used.

When participants’ perceptions and experience form the research question focus, some studies have used questionnaires to gather data. For instance, Angelelli (2003) used questionnaires to survey 293 interpreters about their role perceptions. Interestingly, this study was carried out in a multi-setting (conference, court, and health) and cross-national (Canada, Mexico, and the USA) environment.

Pöchhacker (2000) also used a questionnaire in order to gather the opinion of thirty-six interpreters and over 600 service providers in medical and social work settings in Vienna. As their aim was to take stock of current trends, the use of questionnaires was justified. In other studies the number of participants was much lower, in which case one could question whether this data collection method was the most appropriate. For instance, Martin and Ortega Herráez (2009)’s study surveyed the court interpreter’s perception of her role in the Madrid region. They sent twenty-four questionnaires to various service providers and freelancers, and they received nineteen completed questionnaires. However, Welman, Kruger, and Mitchell (2005) argue that although response rates may be high, researchers must ensure that the responses are representative of the sampled population so that the data gathered is valid. In Martin and Ortega Herráez (2009)’s study, although the response rate is high (72%), the extent to which this is representative of the Madrid court interpreting population could be questioned on account of the low number of participants.

Although questionnaires were used in the above studies, Liu (2011, p. 89) noted that interviews as a data collection method seems the most widely used when participants’ perceptions are the study focus. For instance, Lipkin (2008) uses in-depth interviews with eleven interpreters and military officers to examine perceived power relations and the interpreter’s duties. As mentioned previously, the number of participants taking part in interviews tends to fluctuate. For

example, Berk-Seligson (2008) investigated access to justice in indigenous languages in Ecuador. She analysed ninety-three interviews conducted with judges, magistrates, lawyers, justices of the peace, interpreters, translators, and political leaders. However, Edwards et al. (2005) use semi-structured interviews with fifty service users to explore their experience with interpreters, whilst in her

106 doctoral thesis, Guéry (2014) conducted eleven semi-structured interviews . It is interesting to note that most studies using interviews as their sole or main data collection method occurred in the second half of the 2000s, which reflects the social turn in IS mentioned previously. However, unlike questionnaires, the motivation to conduct interviews is often inscribed within a desire to obtain an in- depth understanding of a participant’s account and to gather multivocal views on one research question (Tracy, 2013, pp. 132-133). As this study also aims to analyse court interpreters’ perceptions of their role in-depth, conducting semi- structured interviews is deemed the most appropriate data collection method, and it is in line with previous studies in IS.

Given the wide ranging methodologies and methods used in IS, Liu (2011) calls for more methodological rigour as she identified that information on methodologies and methods was not always provided in published research. Furthermore, it can be argued that studies’ ontological and epistemological stances are rarely

acknowledged in IS. However, it is important to note that this particular interest in methodological trends is relatively new in IS, as most publications are rather recent (such as Hale & Napier, 2013; Liu, 2011; Pöchhacker, 2008b). It could also be hypothesised that taking into account articles’ word limit and publishers’ style in IS literature, methodological information may not have been deemed essential features in IS research up to now. Taking into account this doctoral project’s research questions and the need to obtain an in-depth understanding of the interpreter’s perception of their role, semi-structured interviews will be used as a data gathering tool.