1.6.2 Enhancing rigour in qualitative research from a bilingual perspective (168)

Gwerfyll Roberts, Lecturer, School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Studies, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom Co authors: Fiona Irvine, Llinos Spencer, Siobhan Tranter & Peter Jones g.w.roberts@bangor.ac.uk

Abstract:

Despite a growing commitment across developed countries towards the delivery of culture and language appropriate healthcare services, establishing the evidence base to inform policy and practice is often hindered by a lack of language awareness in the research process (Papadopoulos & Lees 2002). This is particularly apparent in qualitative research where there is a paucity of evidence to establish the methodology for best practice in the analysis and synthesis of findings generated from linguistically diverse data sets (Temple 2002; Tsai et al 2004). This paper reports on a pilot study, undertaken by a team of bilingual researchers, to investigate ways of enhancing rigour in the analysis of qualitative research from a bilingual perspective. This represents part of a wider government-commissioned study to identify the factors that influence language transmission within bilingual families. Semi-structured interviews were conducted between 2006 and 2007 with a purposive sample of ten expectant couples, in their preferred language.

Five interviews were conducted in one language by one researcher; and five in another language by a second researcher; and these were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Open coding of the interview data was undertaken independently in the original language, revealing a series of themes and categories. An independent researcher then checked the inter-coder reliability across the two data sets and conceptual equivalence across the two languages. Two further researchers then conducted separate audit trails of the data in order to validate the findings.

Finally all researchers met to agree the refinement of the conceptual codes and reconstruct the categories, where appropriate. The paper will explore the differences between the analyses of the two language specific data sources and offer a systematic approach towards enhancing rigour in nursing research that may be adopted across other bilingual and multilingual research settings worldwide.

Biography:

Gwerfyl is a lecturer at the School of Healthcare Sciences, Bangor University. Her main research interest focuses on enhancing the evidence base for language appropriate practice in health and social care. She is Co-Director of LLAIS, a government funded initiative that offers advice and consultancy on enhancing Welsh language awareness across the new R&D infrastructure in Wales, CRC Cymru; and maintains a research network portfolio on language appropriate practice. Commissioned research includes a national study to obtain a sector wide overview of the levels of Welsh language awareness amongst healthcare professionals; a scoping study to determine the need for a national health and social care research network for language awareness in Wales and an evaluation of the Twf project, a Welsh Language Board initiative on language transmission in the family. Gwerfyl has been involved in the production of a number of standardised bilingual healthcare terminologies and teaching packs to support practitioners in their role as mentors and facilitators of language choice; and she is co-editor of the 1st Welsh Edition of Bailliere’s Midwives’ Dictionary. She is a member of the Welsh Assembly Government Task Group for Welsh in the Health Service.