Lost and Found in Translation: An Ecological Approach to Bilingual Research Methodology

Abstract

Translation issues emerged from a qualitative study, conducted in French and English, that gathered patient perspectives on a newly implemented undergraduate medical curriculum entitled Physicianship: The Physician as Professional and Healer. French-speaking participants were interviewed using a translated interview guide, originally developed in English. A major finding that francophone participants contested the idea of the physicianhealer in a manner not witnessed among the anglophone participants. Consultation with multilingual health professionals was undertaken to explore whether the contestation was the result of poor translation of the word healer. This process confirmed that no appropriate French equivalent could be found. With hindsight, the authors emphasize the importance of pretesting translated research instrumentation. An ecological perspective on language equivalency is also emphasized, in which emergent linguistic discrepancies are viewed as opportunities for learning about the culture-language relationship.

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“…The FGD for mothers in the non-microcredit group was conducted at an easily accessible central location in the community at a time when the majority of mothers were available. FGD interview guides were translated into the local language and back translated into English, to ensure proper translation (Jagosh & Boudreau 2009). Open-ended questions were asked to encourage discussion and to explore any issues that arose (Patton 2002).…”

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