WP151 Ethnographic research on ad-hoc interpreting in an emergency department: The challenges of data collection

This paper describes the methods used and the challenges encountered during data collection for an ethnographic study on language barriers and ad-hoc interpreting in a linguistically diverse inner-city hospital emergency department (ED). Data collection relied on ethnographic participant observation and transcripts of audio-recorded clinician-patient interactions to describe and analyse how staff, patients, and ad-hoc interpreters interact in an ED setting. This paper reviews the different practical steps that needed to be undertaken before embarking on data collection, with a view to stirring the discussion on these issues and facilitating future research.