title: The bilingual researcher’s dilemmas: Reflexive approaches to translation issues

authors: Lee, Sherrie

subjects: Cross-cultural research; international students

abstract: Research conducted by English-speaking researchers about other language speaking subjects is essentially cross-cultural and often multilingual, particularly with qualitative research that involves participants communicating in languages other than English. In research using non-English data, scholars have noted that the translation process can be problematic, and is often glossed over. Thus, they call for greater transparency in accounting for translation decisions. This article is a reflexive account of the author’s doctoral research about international EAL (English as an Additional Language) students’ informal academic learning practices. Nine of the ten research participants were of Chinese ethnicity and, consequently, a substantial portion of the data collected was in Chinese.

I am a Chinese Singaporean who is bilingual in English and Chinese. I discuss the dilemmas faced when interpreting and translating data from the Chinese participants, each of whom had his or her own particular social and cultural backgrounds. The dilemmas I faced were related to i) immediate understanding of interview responses, ii) interview transcription for member checking, and iii) translation of data. I argue that these dilemmas can be resolved by member checking during data collection and analysis, and the use of professional translators. However, I also caution against an idealised notion of objective meaning in translation. I conclude that cross-cultural research should take into account the researcher’s cultural and language identity in understanding how data from research participants is represented.

text: The bilingual researcher’s dilemmas: Reflexive approaches to translation issues Research conducted by English-speaking researchers about other language speaking subjects is essentially cross-cultural and often multilingual, particularly with qualitative research that involves participants communicating in languages other than English. In research using non-English data, scholars have noted that the translation process can be problematic, and is often glossed over. Thus, they call for greater transparency in accounting for translation decisions. This article is a reflexive account of the author’s doctoral research about international EAL (English as an Additional Language) students’ informal academic learning practices. Nine of the ten research participants were of Chinese ethnicity and, consequently, a substantial portion of the data collected was in Chinese.

I am a Chinese Singaporean who is bilingual in English and Chinese. I discuss the dilemmas faced when interpreting and translating data from the Chinese participants, each of whom had his or her own particular social and cultural backgrounds. The dilemmas I faced were related to i) immediate understanding of interview responses, ii) interview transcription for member checking, and iii) translation of data. I argue that these dilemmas can be resolved by member checking during data collection and analysis, and the use of professional translators. However, I also caution against an idealised notion of objective meaning in translation. I conclude that cross-cultural research should take into account the researcher’s cultural and language identity in understanding how data from research participants is represented.

year: 2017

title: Assessment of roughness and chemical modification in determining the hydrophobic properties of metals

authors: Larmour, Iain A.

subjects: chemistry

abstract: “Etch and coat” methods, potentially useful for large scale production of superhydrophobic surfaces on metals, have been extended by introduction of a thin 20 nm Au interlayer which allowed thiol surface modifiers to be investigated. Fe, Ti and Zn surfaces modified in this way with a polyfluorothiol generally had lower contact angles, θ, than their silane modified equivalents but were more uniform and reproducible. The higher θ values for silanes appear to be associated with an increased effective roughness that is not seen in the thiol coatings, which follow the underlying surface. For Fe, Ti and Zn, θ increased to a maximum with etching time but then decreased significantly. Electron microscopy of samples etched for long times showed fewer grain boundaries, suggesting that the loss of hydrophobicity was related to reduced roughness. This was confirmed through quantitative measurements of roughness parameters which were directly correlated with the observed contact angles through the Wenzel equation. The observation of this behaviour for 3 different metals suggests it is a general effect and the assumption that increased etch times will give increased roughness is incorrect. Although etching , Au coating and thiol modification did not provide sufficient roughness for superhydrophobicity, electrodeposition of a Cu layer onto the metal substrates followed by electroless deposition of silver gave uniform surfaces with very high contact angles (up to θ = 168.9°) and low roll-off angles (α < 1°). This method is sufficiently simple and inexpensive to be suitable for application on industrial scales, for example in marine or aeronautical engineering.

text: Assessment of roughness and chemical modification in determining the hydrophobic properties of metals “Etch and coat” methods, potentially useful for large scale production of superhydrophobic surfaces on metals, have been extended by introduction of a thin 20 nm Au interlayer which allowed thiol surface modifiers to be investigated. Fe, Ti and Zn surfaces modified in this way with a polyfluorothiol generally had lower contact angles, θ, than their silane modified equivalents but were more uniform and reproducible. The higher θ values for silanes appear to be associated with an increased effective roughness that is not seen in the thiol coatings, which follow the underlying surface. For Fe, Ti and Zn, θ increased to a maximum with etching time but then decreased significantly. Electron microscopy of samples etched for long times showed fewer grain boundaries, suggesting that the loss of hydrophobicity was related to reduced roughness. This was confirmed through quantitative measurements of roughness parameters which were directly correlated with the observed contact angles through the Wenzel equation. The observation of this behaviour for 3 different metals suggests it is a general effect and the assumption that increased etch times will give increased roughness is incorrect. Although etching , Au coating and thiol modification did not provide sufficient roughness for superhydrophobicity, electrodeposition of a Cu layer onto the metal substrates followed by electroless deposition of silver gave uniform surfaces with very high contact angles (up to θ = 168.9°) and low roll-off angles (α < 1°). This method is sufficiently simple and inexpensive to be suitable for application on industrial scales, for example in marine or aeronautical engineering.

year: 2008

title: Unorthodox assistance: Novalis, Māori, scientism, and an uncertain approach to 'Whakapapa'

authors: Mika, Carl Te Hira

abstract: The reductionism of Western science is well noted among several Maori academics, who describe in various ways its methodical tendency to dissemble an organism and isolate its parts. The reductionist nature of the method of science then informs the practice, so that the manifestations of science - its latest innovations, evidenced in biotechnology, cloning, stem cell therapy and so on - become an overriding concern for these academics. Rightly, the effects of those innovations on Maori spiritual and phYSical realms are addressed, to the extent that they may constitute extensive submissions to governmental bodies. How effective these submissions are is open to considerable speculation, particularly when it is acknowledged by many of these same writers that those ministerial and judicial bodies are incapable of understanding the dilemmas posed by the effects of reductionist scientific practice on the Maori world. The Maori world, in the main, is left to wait until it is confronted with yet another scientific advancement or technology, and the rush to counter its modus operandi begins again.

text: Unorthodox assistance: Novalis, Māori, scientism, and an uncertain approach to 'Whakapapa' The reductionism of Western science is well noted among several Maori academics, who describe in various ways its methodical tendency to dissemble an organism and isolate its parts. The reductionist nature of the method of science then informs the practice, so that the manifestations of science - its latest innovations, evidenced in biotechnology, cloning, stem cell therapy and so on - become an overriding concern for these academics. Rightly, the effects of those innovations on Maori spiritual and phYSical realms are addressed, to the extent that they may constitute extensive submissions to governmental bodies. How effective these submissions are is open to considerable speculation, particularly when it is acknowledged by many of these same writers that those ministerial and judicial bodies are incapable of understanding the dilemmas posed by the effects of reductionist scientific practice on the Maori world. The Maori world, in the main, is left to wait until it is confronted with yet another scientific advancement or technology, and the rush to counter its modus operandi begins again.

year: 2011