By João Gabriel Pereira da Silveira

In the 1980s, Translation Studies was consolidated as an autonomous disciplinary field and, allied to this, the need arose to develop and implement a wide variety of research methodologies related to translation practice that could follow not only the theoretical perspectives that emerged at the time but also the technological advances. Thus, the joint use of software, questionnaires, scales and, interviews, for example, were gradually implemented to the data collections and analyses, especially regarding the empirical-experimental research of translation as a cognitive process.

Among the methodological alternatives carried out in the researches, it can be affirmed that the data triangulation, already consolidated in the field of Social Sciences at the time, started to stand out as a consistent alternative in the acquisition of results in researches related to translation. According to Alves (2001), this is a methodological alternative that, by cross-referencing quantitative and qualitative data, provides greater reliability, consistency, and, consequently, greater generalization to the results obtained, which, in turn, can contribute to the clarification of issues considered fundamental to Translation Studies. Following this line of reasoning, Alves (2001) points out six data collection instruments that help in the triangulation process and have a consolidated tradition for decades by researchers from several countries: 

1. Think Aloud Protocols (TAPs): It is a simple technique which consists in asking the volunteer translators to verbalize everything that comes to their mind at the time they translate a given text. All that is said by the participant is recorded and transcribed later by the researcher for future analysis.

2. Retrospection: A technique used to collect reports from volunteers of the research about the task performed by them. It is a technique performed after the translation activity and is simple to apply and can be recorded for a future transcription and analysis or can simply be noted by the researcher at the time of the informant’s report.

3. Structured questionnaires and addressed interviews: The questionnaires, as well as the two previous techniques, have a simple application and should be previously prepared by the researcher and completed by the participants. They should have well-ordered and well-defined (open, closed, or mixed) questions that are relevant to developing research. The addressed interviews, in turn, follow the same precepts of the questionnaires, distinguishing themselves from these by the fact that they are applied directly by the researcher, not requiring the volunteer, therefore, to do any type of filling out.

4. Video: In this data collection technique, video cameras are used to identify the stages of concentration and distraction of the volunteers, the periods in which there was the use of dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other sources, the motor activities performed and reactions in general. Cameras are usually used together with the TAP technique and/or synchronized to some software, for a better performance of data collection.

5. Expert judgment: This is a technique that seeks, through previously defined criteria, to evaluate the quality of the translations performed by the research volunteers.

6. Software: Software is nowadays essential to monitor the processes performed by volunteers in certain translation tasks. The programs used are usually compatible with the Windows platform, which is a system commonly used by the user. One of the main software is Translog, which allows the recording of all keyboard and mouse touches (insertions, deletions, text corrections) and allows the researcher to observe variables of time (pauses, hesitations, reading time).

Alves (2001: 84) points out that the joint application of these techniques “[...] makes it possible to obtain differentiated cutouts that, in a complementary way, contribute to the clarification and understanding of the constitutive processes of the task of translating”, thus justifying, the use of triangulation as a methodological strategy that provides greater reliability and consistency in terms of obtaining results. Besides, it is important to highlight that several research groups around the world carry out empirical-experimental research using triangulation, such as the PACTE group (Procés d'Adquisició de la Competència Traductora i Avaluació), at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the TRAP group (Translation Process Research Group), at the Copenhagen Business School, and the researchers of LETRA (Experimental Translation Laboratory), located at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, which corroborates not only the impact of this strategy from the 1990s to the present day but also its adaptation to the various technological devices that are emerging over the years.

References

Alves, Fabio. 2001. “A triangulação como opção metodológica em pesquisas empírico-experimentais em tradução”. In Pagano, Adriana (Org.) Metodologias de Pesquisa em Tradução. Belo Horizonte, Faculdade de Letras, UFMG, 69-92.