Transcribing

The above dictates that the method of narrative analysis chosen influences the method of transcription. Dialogic/performative analysis acknowledges the importance of co- construction; therefore, the interviewer's spoken words, pauses and non-verbal exchanges are equally as important as the participant's in the analysis and need to be present in the transcription. This approach can be compared to those based on the idea that the self is already constructed, here interviews would simply allow the participant the space to present this pre-existing self. From this position, the role of the interviewer/researcher is minimal, and therefore their presence in the transcript is not required. As I am taking the former position presented here, the communication (spoken language and sounds) of both the participant and interviewer will be transcribed.

The inclusion of the interviewer’s interactions in the transcripts is in keeping with Jenkins’ (2014) understanding of identity as social, developing in interaction with others, and the environment. This approach accepts that both the interviewer and the participant generate shared understandings, responding to each other’s direction. In the current study the role of the interpreter also requires consideration; all interpreters are family members

or friends of the participant and are often the person who would attend health or social care appointments with them. This means that they also have a valuable account to contribute and become a hybrid interpreter/participant. Poindexter (2003a) refers to the transcription of interviews with three speaking roles as generating a ‘trialogue’, which is a fitting definition for this thesis.

5.6.2 Analysis

Dialogic/Performative analysis is characterised by understanding speech as a performance, a perspective taken from Goffman’s work on performance. Transcriptions or recordings of these performances are analysed by applying a number of principles;

1. Subjectivity in interpretation - this principle recognises that the researcher's interpretation relates to their own interests and agenda. In application to this research project it needs to be recognised that I am researching a specific topic, the choice of which is a result of my own subjective experiences as a social worker in the geographical area being researched. Therefore, the question I pose to participants is designed to illicit a response about a very narrow aspect of their lives. This response is then the focus of much deeper analysis. Riessman's point here is that by gathering information in such a way, the importance of the narrative given to the participant can be conflated by the researcher. The author refers to incidents in her own research where participants have read her interpretations and reported such issues to her, explaining that they hadn’t seen the issue researched as having the prominence in their lives that it was given in the interpretation.

2. Interpretation must be linked to features in the text - interpretivist research by definition requires the interpretation of the researcher to illicit meaning from narratives. As the approach acknowledges the importance of the researcher in constructing this interpretation, one can deduce that a different reader may attach different meanings to/identify different aspects of the narrative as important. For Riessman it is this variety that necessitates the connection between interpretation and features of the text, put simply the interpretation must be traceable in the transcripts. It is from this principle that we can justify the decision for the researcher who conducted the interviews, to both

transcribe and analyse their own research, as their connection to the data is much stronger than just the words on a page.

3. In combination with the importance of text, an understanding of context is required. Where interpretation appears to divert from the transcribed narrative this must be explained by features in the contextual lives of the participants. This is where the researcher possesses knowledge that readers may not have available to them. Contextual factors may include political climate - in reference to the research project the financial insecurity of the community centre may have affected the women's likelihood of participating. Political climate and international issues such as a recent natural disaster in Pakistan may also have affected the responses of the women. This additional information affords the interpreter a more holistic understanding of the participant's responses.

4. In relation to the 'performative' aspect of dialogic/performance analysis Riessman (2008) recognises the way the way the participant chooses to present their narrative as fundamental to the interpretation, alongside what they choose to present. Here she identifies features of the participant's spoken language within the narrative that require further analysis and exploration;

 primarily the use of direct speech to report or reconstruct a conversation that occurred between 'actors' in the narrative. This can be seen as building credibility and can also enable the participant to convey a message that they may be uncomfortable stating as their current selves.

 The use of 'asides' interchanged with the use of direct speech can be used as a strategy to engage with the audience (researcher in this case) and build on the relationship.

 Riessman sees the repetition of words or phrases as indicating importance or relevance of a particular aspect of the narrative, she recognises that individuals will revisit aspects of their stories that they want to convey as important.

 Use of expressive sounds is seen as a feature worthy of exploration as the attempt of the participant to add 'drama' to their narrative. This aspect influenced to the decision I made to transcribe the sounds of the participant and the researcher, along with the language spoken. Linked to the recognition of sounds is the

importance of pauses and breaks in language, which may indicate emotion or discomfort for example. The difficulties with interpreting expressive sounds in this way with translated content are discussed earlier in the chapter.

 Use of alternating 'historical present' and past tenses in language can indicate a deeper involvement with the subject being conveyed. This may be in subconscious attempt to engage the audience with this aspect of the narrative or because this aspect is more emotive or important to the participant.

As discussed in the last chapter, Goffman applies a spectrum to the presentation of self, from sincere to cynical, dependent on the level of insight the individual has into their performance. This is equally relevant to the use of the linguistic features above; in some instances, participants and their interpreters chose certain words or discussion points to emphasise because they were aware of my research aims but at other points this was not the case. This is explored in relation to the transcripts throughout the next two chapters however here it is important to discuss the researcher’s ‘self’.

5.6.3 Audience

Riessman and Goffman suggest that in all human interaction, people adapt their performance to the audience, and that an ‘audience’ can be a physical or implied presence; for example; as the interviewer, I am a physical audience, but cultural expectations can also influence performance. Mischler (1986 cited in Riessman 2008) suggests that the interviewer can represent three audiences;

1. The interviewer as an individual; seen when participants talk to me about my family, for example one woman asked me who was watching my son while I interviewed her in the evening.

2. The interviewer as a representative of their profession; often once interviews had ended, and occasionally within them, participants and their families would ask me how to access social care services or apply for benefits.

3. The social and cultural context; All interactions are influenced by events and expectations; local, national and international, for example participants were

occasionally reluctant to be audio-recorded because of a recent incident where women had been photographed at a group without headscarves on. These photographs had then been posted on social media without their full consent. This altered the dynamics of trust when forming relationships and conducting interviews.

My individual relationship with the women, developed over several months attending a weekly luncheon club provides the participants with expectations of my ‘individual self’. This is combined with the awareness of my previous employment as a social worker and my present position as an academic, which contribute to the ‘professional self’. The interviews are conducted in the women’s homes, situated in an area that has a high Pakistani population compared to national averages, has experienced significant unrest and is described as the most deprived in England in 2016. The unique ‘audience’ is formed where the three different aspects combine.

This level of subjectivity and uniqueness could be perceived as affecting the validity of the project, however following the points developed by Riessman (2008) ensures that the analysis is tied to the transcripts and justified by reference to the text, performance and knowledge of the social context.

5.7 Thematic Analysis

Once the individual participant transcripts were analysed using dialogic performance analysis, it was important to identify whether common themes could be interpreted from the data. The development of common themes would mean that despite the differential distribution of privilege and capital between the participants, based on intersectional disadvantage, there are commonalities in their experiences. These commonalities can then be used to generate recommendations for change. For this process, thematic analysis was utilised. Braun and Clarke (2006) define thematic analysis as ‘a method for identifying, analysing and reporting patterns (themes) within data’ (2006:7). The authors encourage researchers to recognise their influence on the process of thematic analysis, asserting that themes neither ‘emerge’ or are ‘discovered’ from the data, rather, the investigator analyses and develops themes. This process of analysis and development cannot occur external to

the researchers own influence, knowledge or interests, a premise in keeping with dialogic performance analysis, which also accounts for the co-constructed nature of narrative research.

According to Braun and Clarke, thematic analysis involves utilising specific terms, described below in relation to this thesis:

 Data corpus – all transcripts

 Data set – all narratives (identified through the flexible application of the definition of a narrative, and relationship to the research question)

 Data item – individual participant transcript  Data extract – individual narrative

In keeping with the philosophical underpinning of this thesis, theoretical thematic analysis was utilised. This form of analysis is based on researcher interest, and coding of the data extracts is influenced accordingly, although in line with dialogic performance analysis, interpretation of meaning must also be observable in the transcripts when considered across a single data item. In addition, the analysis was conducted at interpretative or latent level. This means that analysis focussed on thematising meaning rather than the words of the data extracts alone, this is important as dialogic performance analysis had been completed and meaning already interpreted from features of both the language and performance of the participants.

Once theoretical decisions about the analysis had been considered and finalised, thematic analysis was conducted utilising Braun and Clarke’s six phase process, listed below (2006: 35);

1.

Familiarising yourself with your data

2.

Generating initial codes

3.

Searching for themes

4.

Reviewing themes

5.

Defining and naming themes

Appendix four provides a diagram of the thematic maps generated at phase four, and appendix five shows the refined subthemes completed at stage five.

5.8 Using Interpreters

Many of the participants in this study were unable to speak English, with some describing their language skills as ‘bad’ or ‘limited’. In addition, I am unable to speak in the first language of the participants (Urdu, Punjabi or Guajarati). Because of this language barrier, an interpreter was required for five of the interviews. All participants were offered a choice of interpreter; I could organise a formal interpreter via an agency or they could arrange someone they felt comfortable with to support them, everyone chose the latter.

Interpreters are frequently utilised within health and social welfare provisions in England in order to support the exchange of information between professional and patient/service user. This process is not unproblematic and requires exploration here.

5.8.1 Interpreting as a discipline

Although informal interpreting practice is presumed to date back as far as immigration itself (Mikkelson 2012), researching formal interpreting as a discipline is a progression of the field of translation studies and can be traced back to work in psychology. Pochhacker (2012) describes the emergence of two schools of thought in the 1960s; one associated with cognitive processing (CP), referred to as the Paris School and pioneered by the French academic Seleskovitch and another exploring dialogic, interaction orientated (IO) work, influenced by dialogism and sociology.

These two distinct fields developed by studying interpreting in conference settings, with community interpreting only becoming recognised as a profession in 1995 (Mikkelson 2012). Community interpreting is a contested term but usually refers to interpreting outside of largescale conference style settings, for example in health care or legal forums. This move to the community paved the way for interpreting to be seen as more of an interactive and dynamic process of mediating, rather than a static entity (Pochhacker 2012). Despite the developments described here, there is still very limited research exploring the nature of interpreting in health and social care, what is published focusses

mostly on provider perspectives rather than that of the interpreter or interpretee (Green et al. 2005).

Seleskovitch (1978 cited in Pochhacker 2012) proposed the ‘theorie du sens’ as a development of the cognitive processing discourse, stating that ‘interpreting does not consist in transferring words but in grasping and re-grasping non-linguistic sense’ (2012: 61). There are parallels here with Riessman’s perspective, whereby meaning is ascribed to transcribed words in conjunction with analysis of the performative and contextual aspects of interaction. Using Riessman’s method of dialogic performance analysis with foreign language interpreters can therefore be seen as a hybrid, reflecting aspects of both interaction-orientated and cognitive processing perspectives.

In document Narratives of under-representation: older Pakistani women’s accounts of their health and social care experiences (Page 117-124)