In my experience it is key to make sure that the interpreters are trained.

 

They need to understand that they need to interpret everything, and not just what they think is important.  I have had experience of listening to a long conversation going on in a different language, sometimes with several participants seemingly disagreeing and then the interpreter giving an edited version of what has been said.  I have had to go back to the interpreter to ask for a full account of everything that everyone said, and sometimes I think that the interpreters have been reluctant to this, especially if they are part of the community and the issues are controversial and they have their own view.

 

Also, they need to have some understanding of the topic that you will be discussing as not all words will be easy to interpret.  They need to be able to think and agree with you in advance how they will explain certain ideas in a way that participants will understand but that does not change or over simplify what you are trying to say.

 

Jez

 

From: Health of minority ethnic communities in the UK [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sarah Fry
Sent: 02 June 2016 09:23
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Healthcare access amongst recent migrants to the UK - research methodology help please!

 

Hi Jessica,

 

I am a not sure of you are interviewing the men separately or in a group, but here is a summary of my experience, which I hope is useful.

 

I am doing research on the perceptions of prostate cancer risk and have have conducted interviews and focus groups with Somali men.  I used an interpreter in both situations.  I was concerned the focus group would be difficult because the men would continue talking whilst the interpreter was translating into English.  I thought I would find it difficult to keep the flow of the focus group.  In fact, the men spoke reasonably good English and men moved between English and Somali so I could pick up on points to move them on. 

 

The interviews were much more straight forward; the men used both languages and where translation was needed they appeared happy to wait for the translation until I moved the interview on.  It did not interrupt the flow of the interview and using good non-verbal communication techniques during translation ensured I held the participants attention.  

 

I had the focus group and interview recordings back-translated to English, where necessary, so for analysis I was able to have a complete transcript in English.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Good luck.

 

Sarah

 

Sarah Fry

Lecturer  Monday - Wednesday

PhD Researcher Thursday - Friday
College of Biomedical and Life Sciences
Cardiff University
12th Floor, EastGate House
35-43 Newport Road
Cardiff
CF24 0AB

Telephone: 07912 863240

 

From: Health of minority ethnic communities in the UK <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Jessica Potter <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 31 May 2016 15:29
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Healthcare access amongst recent migrants to the UK - research methodology help please!

 

Dear all,

 

I wondered if you might be able to help me:

 

I am a doctor and specialist in tuberculosis, currently doing my PhD.  My aim is to explore the experiences of recent migrants to the UK who have been diagnosed with tuberculosis of accessing healthcare.  I plan to use narrative interviews to allow the participants to discuss their journey of migration and subsequent illness.  My main issue with this type of interviewing is that to allow my participants to fully express themselves I am conducting the interviews in their first language through an interpreter.  There is much literature on the subject of interpreter use in qualitative interviewing but limited practical advice on research in groups where the research data is being collected in multiple different languages with multiple different interpreters.

 

I wondered whether you might share your own experiences of this and provide me with any advice about how I ensure that I minimise meaning lost through translation and provide the strongest possible platform from which my participants can share their experiences.

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Jess

 

 

Jessica Potter

Clinical Lecturer & MRC Research Fellow

 

@DrJessPotter

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07879818128

020 7882 2481

 

Centre for Primary Care and Public Health
Blizard Institute
Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry
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London E1 2AB

 

http://www.tbdrugmonographs.co.uk 

Guidelines on the use of drugs to treat tuberculosis and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) including bedaquiline, capreomycin, clarithromycin, clofazamine ...

 

 

A UK based resource to support the use of all anti-tuberculous drugs.