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The status of interpretive hypotheses

  • Andrew Chesterman
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Efforts and Models in Interpreting and Translation Research
This chapter is in the book Efforts and Models in Interpreting and Translation Research

Abstract

In the natural sciences, the task of the researcher is usually seen as the generation and testing of hypotheses. These hypotheses are taken to be possible answers to questions concerning the description, prediction, and explanation of natural phenomena. But there is also another kind of hypothesis, an interpretive hypothesis. The status of interpretive hypotheses is not as clear as that of descriptive, predictive or explanatory ones. This paper aims to clarify this status, showing the respects in which interpretive hypotheses are like other kinds, and the respects in which they are different. Hermeneutic research methods based on the generation and testing of interpretive hypotheses do not seem fundamentally different from those of traditional empirical sciences. Interpretive hypotheses simply apply to different kinds of data. They can be particularly relevant to the research goal of explanation.

Abstract

In the natural sciences, the task of the researcher is usually seen as the generation and testing of hypotheses. These hypotheses are taken to be possible answers to questions concerning the description, prediction, and explanation of natural phenomena. But there is also another kind of hypothesis, an interpretive hypothesis. The status of interpretive hypotheses is not as clear as that of descriptive, predictive or explanatory ones. This paper aims to clarify this status, showing the respects in which interpretive hypotheses are like other kinds, and the respects in which they are different. Hermeneutic research methods based on the generation and testing of interpretive hypotheses do not seem fundamentally different from those of traditional empirical sciences. Interpretive hypotheses simply apply to different kinds of data. They can be particularly relevant to the research goal of explanation.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Scientometrics and history
  5. An author-centred scientometric analysis of Daniel Gile's œuvre 3
  6. The turns of Interpreting Studies 25
  7. Conceptual analysis
  8. The status of interpretive hypotheses 49
  9. Stratégies et tactiques en traduction et interprétation 63
  10. On omission in simultaneous interpreting: Risk analysis of a hidden effort 83
  11. Research skills
  12. Doctoral training programmes: Research skills for the discipline or career management skills? 109
  13. Getting started: Writing communicative abstracts 127
  14. Construct-ing quality 143
  15. Empirical studies
  16. How do experts interpret? Implications from research in Interpreting Studies and cognitive science 159
  17. The impact of non-native English on students' interpreting performance 179
  18. Evaluación de la calidad en interpretación simultánea: Contrastes de exposición e inferencias emocionales. Evaluación de la evaluación 193
  19. Linguistic interference in simultaneous interpreting with text: A case study 215
  20. Towards a definition of Interpretese: An intermodal, corpus-based study 237
  21. The speck in your brother's eye – the beam in your own: Quality management in translation and revision 255
  22. Publications by Daniel Gile 281
  23. Name index 295
  24. Subject index 299
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.80.06che

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Scientometrics and history
  5. An author-centred scientometric analysis of Daniel Gile's œuvre 3
  6. The turns of Interpreting Studies 25
  7. Conceptual analysis
  8. The status of interpretive hypotheses 49
  9. Stratégies et tactiques en traduction et interprétation 63
  10. On omission in simultaneous interpreting: Risk analysis of a hidden effort 83
  11. Research skills
  12. Doctoral training programmes: Research skills for the discipline or career management skills? 109
  13. Getting started: Writing communicative abstracts 127
  14. Construct-ing quality 143
  15. Empirical studies
  16. How do experts interpret? Implications from research in Interpreting Studies and cognitive science 159
  17. The impact of non-native English on students' interpreting performance 179
  18. Evaluación de la calidad en interpretación simultánea: Contrastes de exposición e inferencias emocionales. Evaluación de la evaluación 193
  19. Linguistic interference in simultaneous interpreting with text: A case study 215
  20. Towards a definition of Interpretese: An intermodal, corpus-based study 237
  21. The speck in your brother's eye – the beam in your own: Quality management in translation and revision 255
  22. Publications by Daniel Gile 281
  23. Name index 295
  24. Subject index 299
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