Doing research in church interpreting is incredibly valuable and can be incredibly fulfilling. It is, however, a research context in which it is important to bear in mind the constraints of the context and the expectations that people have of interpreting. This is just a very brief overview guide to some of the things that you should think about when you’re doing research in church interpreting
1. Church interpreting always exists for a reason.
No church suddenly wakes up one morning and decides to provide church interpreting on a whim. Whenever researchers have thought to ask churches why the interpreting is there, there has always been a clear response. Even if your research is on interpreting quality or on something deeply linguistic, your research will not reach his potential unless you first ask the question: why is the interpreting here?
It is also important that any evaluations of interpreting take into account why the interpreting exists. This means that the uncritical use of existing quality criteria for interpreting is not suitable for church interpreting research.
2. Engage with existing scholarship
There is already a fairly large and broad body of research into church interpreting. This can be explored using the Bibliography of Interpreting in Christian Settings.
No matter what you’re studying, it will be important to engage with the existing research to make sure that you don’t unnecessarily duplicate something that has already been done. It is also important to understand how your research relates to the work of others. This means something more detailed than simply naming sources.
Engagement with the literature means showing that you understand the key findings, methodologies, and theories used. It also means being able to state clearly how your research relates to this literature. Finally, engaging with the literature means being able to point out the contradictions, flaws, debates, theories and gaps in what is already there. Disagreeing with existing sources is an important part of doing research.
3. Engage with the church you will study
This is as much a practical point as it is an ethical one (see this ethics guide). It can often be difficult to convince churches tell you to come to do research on them. Before a church says yes to a research project, they will often want to know what they will get in return.
We want church interpreting research to not just be about taking data from churches, but about giving something back. Practically speaking, this attitude will mean that more churches will more readily get involved in research. Ethically speaking, this recognises the power dynamics involved when a researcher comes to do research on real, living people. It is important to think about how the church that you are researching will benefit from your research.
Could your research improve training? Could your research help churches to provide interpreting more efficiently? Could your research help churches find interpreters? It may even be helpful to contact the church ahead of time and ask which questions they are already asking about interpreting. There is nothing wrong with borrowing research ideas from people already trying to solve the problems that you might want to look at in your research.