Cover not available

In:Field Research on Translation and Interpreting
Edited by Regina Rogl, Daniela Schlager and Hanna Risku
[Benjamins Translation Library 165] 2025
► pp. 157–178

Get fulltext
PDF logo with download linkDownload Chapter PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Chapter EPUB

Chapter 7
The field diary as a resource for (auto)ethnographies of translation and interpreting

ORCiD logo with link | University of Geneva
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 15 May 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.165.07dav
Abstract
Although many ethnography handbooks recommend keeping fieldnotes, very few publications have concretely discussed the form and role of a field diary. What can keeping a research diary in (auto)ethnographies of translation teach translation scholars about their research? In this chapter, I present examples drawn from the diary I kept as part of an autoethnographic study of volunteer translation in an organization that promotes vegetarianism and veganism in Switzerland. The examples show that field diaries can be complementary sources of data. They can improve the quality of data collection and provide a space for ongoing ethical appraisal. Research journals also create space for self-reflexivity and theoretical production. Furthermore, they can function as therapeutic tools and fuel academic creativity.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Definitions
    • 2.1What do I mean by field diary?
    • 2.2What do I mean by autoethnography?
    • 2.3What do I mean by committed approaches?
  • 3.My field and I
  • 4.Findings from the inclusion of a field diary in a translation autoethnography
    • 4.1Another set of data
    • 4.2Recording emotions
    • 4.3A cathartic role
    • 4.4Improving data collection and ethical considerations
    • 4.5Commitment and rapport
    • 4.6Supporting academic production
  • 5.Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (66)
References
Altrichter, Herbert, Peter Posch, and Bridget Somekh. 1993. Teachers Investigate Their Work: An Introduction to the Methods of Action Research. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Anderson, Jon. 2012. “Reflective Journals as a Tool for Auto-Ethnographic Learning: A Case Study of Student Experiences with Individualized Sustainability.” Journal of Geography in Higher Education 36 (4): 613–623. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Anderson, Leon. 2006. “Analytic Autoethnography.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 35 (4): 373–395. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Assis Rosa, Alexandra. 2010. “Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS).” In Handbook of Translation Studies, ed. by Yves Gambier, and Luc van Doorslaer, 94–104. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boéri, Julie. 2019. “Activism.” In Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, ed. by Mona Baker, and Gabriela Saldanha, 1–5. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boéri, Julie, and Carmen Delgado Luchner. 2020. “Ethics of Activist Translation and Interpreting.” In The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Ethics, ed. by Kaisa Koskinen, and Nike Kocijančič Pokorn, 245–261. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Borg, Simon. 2001. “The Research Journal: A Tool for Promoting and Understanding Researcher Development.” Language Teaching Research 5 (2): 156–177. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bradley, DeMethra L., and Robert Nash. 2011. Mesearch and Research: A Guide for Writing Scholarly Personal Narrative Manuscripts. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Browne, Brendan Ciaran. 2013. “Recording the Personal: The Benefits in Maintaining Research Diaries for Documenting the Emotional and Practical Challenges of Fieldwork in Unfamiliar Settings.” International Journal of Qualitative Methods 12 (1): 420–435. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brownlie, Siobhan. 2009. “Descriptive vs. Committed Approaches.” In Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, ed. by Mona Baker, and Gabriela Saldanha, 77–81. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2010) 2016. “Committed Approaches and Activism.” In Handbook of Translation Studies, ed. by Yves Gambier, and Luc van Doorslaer, 45–48. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burgess, Robert G. 1981. “Keeping a Research Diary.” Cambridge Journal of Education 11 (1): 75–83. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cherry, Elizabeth. 2006. “Veganism as a Cultural Movement: A Relational Approach.” Social Movement Studies 5 (2): 155–170. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015. “I Was a Teenage Vegan: Motivation and Maintenance of Lifestyle Movements.” Sociological Inquiry 85 (1): 55–74. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clifford, James. 1986. “Introduction: Partial Truths.” In Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography, ed. by James Clifford, and George E. Marcus, 1–26. Berkeley: University of California Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coffey, Amanda. 1999. The Ethnographic Self. London: Sage. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Collins, Peter, and Anselma Gallinat. 2010. “The Ethnographic Self as Resource: An Introduction.” In The Ethnographic Self as Resource: Writing Memory and Experience into Ethnography, ed. by Peter Collins, and Anselma Gallinat, 1–24. New York: Berghahn Books. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cronin, Michael. 2017. Eco-Translation: Translation and Ecology in the Age of the Anthropocene. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Darmon, Muriel. 2005. “Le psychiatre, la sociologue et la boulangère : Analyse d’un refus de terrain [The Psychiatrist, the Sociologist, and the Baker: Analysis of the Reasons Why Access to the Field Was Refused].” Genèses 58 (1): 98–112. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ellis, Carolyn. 2003. The Ethnographic I: A Methodological Novel About Autoethnography. California: AltaMira Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ellis, Carolyn, Tony E. Adams, and Arthur P. Bochner. 2011. “Autoethnography: An Overview.” Forum: Qualitative Social Research 12 (1): Art. 10. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ellis, Carolyn, and Arthur P. Bochner. 2000. “Autoethnography, Personal Narrative, Reflexivity: Research as Subject.” In Handbook of Qualitative Research, ed. by Norman K. Denzin, and Yvonna S. Lincoln, 733–768. Thousand Oaks: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Engin, Marion. 2011. “Research Diary: A Tool for Scaffolding.” International Journal of Qualitative Methods 10 (3): 296–306. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fine, Gary Alan. 1999. “Field Labor and Ethnographic Reality.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 28 (5): 532–539. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fort, Emilie. 2022. “Managing Our Personal Traits in the Field: Exploring the Methodological and Analytical Benefits of Mobilizing Field Diaries.” International Journal of Social Research Methodology 25 (3): 345–356. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Glaze, Jane. 2002. “Ph.D. Study and the Use of a Reflective Diary: A Dialogue with Self.” Reflective Practice 3 (2): 153–166. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gleaves, Alan, Caroline Walker, and John Grey. 2007. “Using Digital and Paper Diaries for Learning and Assessment Purposes in Higher Education: A Comparative Study of Feasibility and Reliability.” Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education 32 (6): 631–643. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gould, Rebecca Ruth, and Kayvan Tahmasebian. 2020. “Introduction: Translation and Activism in the Time of the Now.” In The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Activism, ed. by Rebecca Ruth Gould, and Kayvan Tahmasebian, 1–9. Abingdon: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hayano, David M. 1982. Poker Faces: The Life and Work of Professional Card Players. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hensley, Jennifer S. 2016. “Blurred Boundaries: Interpreters as Researchers in Cross-Cultural Settings.” Journal of Interpretation 25 (1): Art. 5. [URL]
Hermans, Theo. 1999. Translation in Systems: Descriptive and Systemic Approaches Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hine, Christine. 2003. Virtual Ethnography. London: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hokkanen, Sari. 2012. “Simultaneous Church Interpreting as Service.” The Translator: Studies in Intercultural Communication 18 (2): 291–309. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017a. “Analyzing Personal Embodied Experiences: Autoethnography, Feelings, and Fieldwork.” Translation and Interpreting 9 (1): 24–35. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hokkanen, Sari, and Kaisa Koskinen. 2016. “Affect as a Hinge: The Translator’s Experiencing Self as a Sociocognitive Interface.” Translation Spaces 5 (1): 78–96.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Janesick, Valerie J. 1999. “A Journal About Journal Writing as a Qualitative Research Technique: History, Issues and Reflections.” Qualitative Inquiry 5 (4): 505–524. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kaufmann, Jean-Claude. 2008. L’entretien compréhensif [Empathic interviewing]. Paris: Armand Colin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kozinets, Robert V. 2010. Netnography: Doing Ethnographic Research Online. Los Angeles: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marin-Lacarta, Maialen, and Mireia Vargas-Urpí. 2019. “Translators Revising Translators: A Fruitful Alliance.” Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice 27 (3): 404–418. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2020. “Translators as Publishers: Exploring the Motivations for Non-Profit Literary Translation in a Digital Initiative.” Meta: Translators’ Journal 65 (2): 459–478. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Miles, Matthew B., Michael A. Huberman, and Johnny Saldaña. 2014. Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook. Los Angeles: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mossop, Brian. 2014. “Motivation and De-Motivation in a Government Translation Service: A Diary-Based Approach.” Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice 22 (4): 581–591. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Newbury, Darren. 2001. “Diaries and Fieldnotes in the Research Process.” Research Issues in Art, Design, and Media 1: 1–17.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Olohan, Maeve, and Elena Davitti. 2017. “Dynamics of Trusting in Translation Project Management: Leaps of Faith and Balancing Acts.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 46 (4): 391–416. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pennebaker, James W., and Joshua M. Smyth. (1990) 2016. Opening up by Writing It Down: How Expressive Writing Improves Health and Eases Emotional Pain. 3rd edition. New York: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Progoff, Ira. 1992. At a Journal Workshop: Writing to Access the Power of the Unconscious and Evoke Creative Ability. Los Angeles: J. P. Tarcher.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Provalis Research, QDA Miner. 2025. “QDA Miner Lite: Free Qualitative Data Analysis Software.” [URL]
Punch, Samantha. 2012. “Hidden Struggles of Fieldwork: Exploring the Role and Use of Field Diaries.” Emotion, Space and Society 5 (2): 86–93. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rheingold, Howard. 1993. The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Richardson, Laurel. 1994. “Writing: A Method of Inquiry.” In The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, ed. by Norman K. Denzin, and Yvonna S. Lincoln, 516–529. Thousand Oaks: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Saldaña, Johnny. 2011. Fundamentals of Qualitative Research: Understanding Qualitative Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Silverman, David. 2011. Interpreting Qualitative Data. Los Angeles: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Smith-Sullivan, Kendall. 2008. Diaries and Journals. In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods, ed. by Lisa M. Given. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stephens Griffin, Nathan. 2017. Understanding Veganism: Biography and Identity. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stephens Griffin, Nathan David, and Naomi Christina Griffin. 2019. “A Millennial Methodology? Autoethnographic Research in Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Punk and Activist Communities.” Forum: Qualitative Social Research 20 (3): Art. 3. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tedlock, Barbara. 1991. “From Participant Observation to the Observation of Participation: The Emergence of Narrative Ethnography.” Journal of Anthropological Research 47 (1): 69–94. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
The Vegan Society. 2025. “Definition of Veganism.” [URL]
Tison, Alev Balci. 2016. “The Interpreter’s Involvement in a Translated Institution: A Case Study of Sermon Interpreting.” PhD diss., Universitat Rovira i Virgili.
Ventsel, Aimar. 2019. “Notes de terrain et histoire cachée [Field notes and hidden story].” Études finno-ougriennes [Finno-Ugric studies] 49–50:1–9. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Voinova, Tanya. 2024. ““Who Are You Standing With?”: Cultural (Self-Re)Translation of a Russian-Speaking Conference Immigrant-Interpreter in Israel During the War in Ukraine.” Multilingua: Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication 43 (1): 63–90. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wolf, Michaela. 2014. “The Sociology of Translation and Its ‘Activist Turn’.” In The Sociological Turn in Translation and Interpreting Studies, ed. by Claudia Angelelli, 7–21. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yu, Chuan. 2019. “Negotiating Identity Roles During the Process of Online Collaborative Translation: An Ethnographic Approach.” Translation Studies 12 (2): 231–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2020. “Insider, Outsider or Multiplex Persona? Confessions of a Digital Ethnographer’s Journey in Translation Studies.” Journal of Specialised Translation 34: 9–31.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue