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In:Psycholinguistic and Cognitive Inquiries into Translation and Interpreting
Edited by Aline Ferreira and John W. Schwieter
[Benjamins Translation Library 115] 2015
► pp. 175–202

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On a more robust approach to triangulating retrospective protocols

and key logging in translation process research

ORCiD logo with link | Universidade Federal de Uberlândia
Published online: 22 January 2015
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.115.08sil
Verbal protocols were extensively used in the very infancy of translation process research. However, it seems that they have failed to stand many of their criticisms, as they now represent a secondary method for eliciting data in the field, especially after technological developments, such as key-logging and eye-tracking software/hardware. As such, this chapter describes a methodological proposal of how to approach retrospective protocols with the aim at increasing reliability and avoiding using it conveniently as a “crutch” for the key-logging analysis. This proposal involves exploring the notions of representation (Chi 2006a, 2006b) and segmentation (Dragsted 2004) as two related variables that can be explored by using retrospective protocols and key-logging data, respectively. Adopting two correlated concepts that can be approached with similar measures, but by using different, equally informative methods, can provide relevant insights to the understanding of the translation process. The proposal is supported by the results of a pilot experiment triangulating representation (as captured through retrospective protocols) and segmentation (as captured through key logging).
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