Collecting and analysing data in another language

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The language of instruction

The language of instruction varies from country to country. In many countries students are primarily taught in a local language. So, researchers who prepare teaching materials, assessments, questionnaires or interview schedules to use in research will do this in the local language.

But most of the international research journals recognised as being of highest status publish in in just a handful of languages. Most commonly the required language for publishing research in good journals is English.

Collecting data in the local language of instruction

"A particular issue arises when data collection occurs in a language other than English. Instruments such as questionnaires (exploring attitudes and opinions) or assessments (testing knowledge and understanding) will clearly need to be presented to learners in the language of instruction. Where students give extended responses (rather than ticking boxes and the like) the responses will also be in the local language. Interviews will be carried out in the language of instruction – as that is the language in which researcher and teacher and/or student are actually fluent and so can best communicate. This is clearly sensible – and indeed it would seem foolish to collect data in English unless those involved had a strong fluency in the language." (Taber, 2018)

Analysing data in the local language of instruction

"It is usually appropriate for data to be analysed in the language in which it is collected, by someone who is (or people who are) fluent in that language. Someone not fluent in a language is very likely to miss nuance, if not misinterpret responses. Indeed, in transcribing interviews or classroom talk it can sometimes be difficult to clearly hear precisely what is being said even when one is working in a first language.

Moreover, transcripts are constructions that necessarily compromise between providing a precise transcription of the sounds made and interpreting the communication being offered. When two people have a conversation, such as a research interview, clear communication depends upon interpretation of what is being said and not just hearing the sounds. Unlike in written communication, where drafting and editing is possible, conversation usually occurs in 'real time' and speech often includes mumbling, incomplete words, shifts between tense mid-sentence, slips of the tongue, and sentences left incomplete (or completed by emphasis or facial expression or gesture rather than actual utterance of the words implied).

The process of completing a research transcript involves decisions about how much tidying up needs to be done to best represent this. An accurate transcription of the sounds an interviewee (or even an interviewer) actually made may be difficult to read. However, too much tidying up risks over-interpreting what was intended – and producing a transcription where what was a transcriber's best guess is presented on the page as definitive data. Ideally, the interview occurs in the first language of the interviewer and interviewee; the transcription is carried out by the interviewer (who brings some knowledge of the context of utterances and may recall non-verbal cues); and analysis occurs in the same language by the interviewer/transcriber, with access to the recordings to check unclear points." (Taber, 2018)

Reporting data in English

"Having got to this point, the work may have to be reported in English if it is to be submitted to a major international journal. In order for readers to fully understand the research, an author may need to append the data collection instrument used, or extracts from instructional materials students worked with. Where the work reported includes analysis of a good deal of qualitative data, which has been analysed in an interpretive mode it will be expected that the claims made in the findings of the paper will be supported by offering examples of themes identified and other key points made, from the data itself. In writing a research paper in English, then, this material will need to be translated into English." (Taber, 2018)

"There are additional challenges in preparing research reports in another language, and that these challenges may be more extreme when this includes material such as students' written work and talk." (Taber, 2018)

Read about the challenges of translation in research reporting

Read about guidelines for good practice regarding translation in reporting research