The use of translators or interpreters
In some studies, the researcher and the translator or interpreter are not the same person and there might even be more than one translator involved in a research project. These people might be professional translators, bilingual people with knowledge of the topic under investigation (or not), or native speakers employed to help the researcher communicate with respondents who do not speak English.
As Temple (1997:614) points out, the use of translators and interpreters ‘is not merely a technical matter that has little bearing on the outcome. It is of epistemological consequence as it influences what is “found”’. Kluckhohn (1945) suggests that there are ‘three basic problems which arise from the use of interpreters: a) the interpreter’s effect on the informant; b) the interpreter’s effect on the communicative process; and c) the interpreter’s effect on the translation’ (quoted in Phillips, 1960:297). Focusing on the latter, Temple (1997:608) argues that researchers who use translators need to acknowledge their dependence on them ‘not just for words but to a certain extent for perspective’. In doing so, researchers need to constantly discuss and ‘debate’ conceptual issues with their translators in order to ensure that conceptual equivalence has been achieved (Temple, 1997:616).