Interpreter-Mediation in Qualitative Interviews: About the Requirements and Effects

Abstract

Little attention has been paid to interpreter-mediated settings in qualitative social research, especially in qualitative interviews, although they introduce challenges to studies and the participants. Interviewers and interviewees are faced with the questions of how to adequately interact with an interpreter, to define the interpreter's role, to analyze the interviews and to ensure the quality of the research findings. Methodological guidance is rare and usually only applies to related fields. Based on expert interviews with researchers and interpreters, experiences with interpreter-mediated interviews are illustrated and guidelines are extracted. Moreover, conversation analysis of recorded interview sequences gives an insight into the interactional dynamics between originals and translations produced and shows how interpreters influence the interview process.

URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs140250