Researching community, work and family with an interpreter

• Published in: Community, work & family work & family, 2001-08, Vol.4 (2), p.157-171
• Main Author: Wynne, Craig D. Murray, Joanne
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Community Research; Crosscultural Differences; Ethnolinguistic Groups; Family Research; Family Work Relationship; Minority Groups; Qualitative Methods; Research Methodology; Researcher Subject Relations; Translation
• ISSN: 1366-8803
• DOI: 10.1080/13668800125668

Community, work, & family have been studied as practice & experience on an international scale. This work has included research with ethnic minority groups, usually practiced by "insiders" who share their participants' ethnicity, culture, & first language. Many of these people live & work in extended family networks, part of a relatively small community embedded within a larger one. Generally, researchers do not have the language skills necessary to communicate with a linguistically diverse population. However, there has been a call to give a voice to, & hence empower, minority groups through the research process. It is in this context that a consideration of the use of interpreters in research on community, work, & family can be made. Within this paper we present exploratory suggestions, drawn from our own research, for the appropriate use of an interpreter. This includes a discussion of the practical considerations & implications involved in this research activity, as well as more conceptual issues. Finally, the ways in which this research activity should be documented to reflect concerns in current qualitative methodological debates are considered. 33 References. Adapted from the source document.