Challenges and strategies of translation in a qualitative and sensitive research

Abstract

Key strategies and challenges of translating the interview data should be considered to do justice to the meanings and voices of the participants and remove misrepresentation. This article aims to investigate the key issues around translation in qualitative and sensitive research of the examination of the men’s engagement in domestic violence interventions in the UK. While many studies report on the importance of providing credibility to the meanings of the participants’ stories, there are limited studies that explore how researchers deal with difficulties and the techniques for translating the data. This research focuses on the key issues around the translation of interview data from Turkish to English. It highlights how the researcher’s position as a translator and a researcher impacted on collecting the data from the participants in a native language and presenting them in English. This addresses methodological and ethical questions that many migrant researchers might encounter during the translation of data.