44. qualvu and Multi-Language Studies (3)

Last post, we asked how qualvu might facilitate multi-language studies, at which traditional text-based online qualitative does poorly.


Before I answer that, I need to digress (again) and describe how real-world multi-language studies work, using the example of Canada, where such studies are common.


(Those who have worked in French in Canada can skip to the next post.)


Nearly 80% of real-world qualitative studies in Montreal are, in my experience, conducted in French by out-of-province clients as part of a larger national or multi-national project, typically originating in and operating in English.


Moderators in Montreal are bilingual in French and English and adapt the English guide to French (often on the fly). To accommodate the client observers and, often, the lead English moderator, facilities in Montreal make provisions for simultaneous interpretation, typically involving a separate studio with audio-hookup to the recording system and the sound system in the observation rooms. The photo shows the setup at MBA Recherches (mentioned here before) and is reproduced with thanks to them and Julie Mayer).



The interpreters themselves are a group of some two dozen reasonably priced freelancers.



They could be a big part of the appeal of qualvu in Canada. More in the next post.

43. qualvu and Multi-Language Studies (2)

In Canada, the typical multi-language qualitative study involves English as the lingua franca of the project team and French as the local language.

In a previous post, we asked the question, "How are multi-language studies conducted in the online qual world?"

The short answer is, "Not very well".

The detailed answer, using Canada as example:

Typically, the client will hire two moderators. The lead moderator, fluent in English, will manage the study, including the design of the guide (if he/she were bilingual, he would of course work in both languages -- there just aren't enough of us).

The local moderator, bilingual in French and English, will adapt the guide to French and moderate the sessions, in French.

As we saw in the previous post, translation of the French answers is either not possible or economic.

So what are the consequences?

1. The lead moderator must either ignore the French answers or delegate the analysis to the French moderator, who will supply the lead with a highlight report, which will then be integrated into the overall findings, with a few supporting translations


2. The client obervers (typically English-speakers) are completely removed from the participant comments during the actual sessions; little wonder that clients in Canada seem unengaged and little interested in online qualitative, when it does not permit them to easily access a key market.

How might qualvu solve this? See you next post.

42. qualvu and Multi-Language Studies (1)

In a previous post, I outlined the characteristics of qualvu, a new online qualitative application using asynchronous video.

I suspect that one compelling benefit of this application will appeal to those who conduct multi-language studies.

Before I expand on that, I need to digress briefly and point out why traditional text-based online qualitative applications such as chat groups and bulletin boards don't do a good job of dealing with multi-language studies.

One might think that these text-based approaches are ideally suited to automatic computer translations. And they are, except that automatic computer translations are often hilariously inaccurate. To test out this hypothesis, take any English sentence, translate it to French using one of the automated Web translation tools, then translate that back to English. I'm willing to bet that 9 times out of 10 it will be amusing gibberish.


Well, what about human translation?

It's been tried, and it doesn't work very well, or fast enough, or cheaply enough.

In the case of online chat groups, all three of those reasons come into play: however good or fast the translator is at translating any particular comment as it appears in the scrolling text stream, he or she will simply not be fast enough to then type the translation into the text stream and somehow attach it to the original comment.

In the case of bulletin boards, traditional translation proves to be too expensive (as of this writing, about $0.30 per word) and often, not sufficiently timely: researchers want the translation shortly after the original is posted, not days or weeks after.

So, how do multi-language studies work in the online qual world? The answer in the next post.