Learn Two General Approaches to Analyzing the Data

From the previous stage you have learned some specific methods to process the data. There are however two general approaches to analyzing them: the descriptive approach and the statistical approach. The methods mentioned above can find their applications in either of these two approaches.

As the following sample illustrates, the descriptive approach enables the researcher to observe and describe individual examples as they are before he or she can derive particular patterns or regularities (规律). For instance, after depicting the language features and the translation methods of such examples as "to his ancestors" and "armed to the teeth" involved, the researcher infers that literal translation is preferred when the transfer of the original image will not hamper the comprehension of the target reader. The descriptive approach focuses on the in-depth analysis of separate examples, so the representativeness and range of examples are the keys to the derivation of unbiased conclusions. In another word, the examples for analysis need to be typical and in adequate number.?

The sample in Task 2 below is a good example of the statistical approach that entails the use of figures and percentages to help make a point. For example, “whilst the English text is made up of twenty-five clauses, with a total of 177 words, its Chinese counterpart is composed of twenty-eight clauses containing 286 words” and “from this contrast, it is observed that 80% textual equivalence has been acquired, when twenty of the twenty-five SLT clauses find representation in the TLT, while three are combined and two omitted in the translation”. Statistics are an effective means of arguing for a case. For this reason, the statistical approach is gaining popularity in the studies of social sciences that originated from the field of natural science.

The descriptive approach and the statistical approach can be combined in data analysis. Apart from the statistical approach, the descriptive approach is also adopted in the sample of Task 2. For example, when the researcher is looking into the use of addition, a strategy to compensate for meaning loss in translation, he describes the grammatical and semantic characteristics of different clauses where addition is applied in their translations.