Testing the impact of remote interpreting settings on interpreter experience and performance

Abstract

This paper presents methodological challenges in a study focusing on the impact of remote interpreting settings on interpreter experience and performance. In recent years, the practice of simultaneous interpreting has undergone a robust development with the quick uptake of remote interpreting technologies due to the global pandemic. In order to investigate remote interpreting, we created the Inside the Virtual Booth project encompassing a survey and an experimental study. We report on selected results of the survey that directly inform the experimental study design. We focus on challenges related to the compromise between experimental control and ecological validity, creation of materials and selection of dependent variables, including eyetracking measures that cannot be directly applied from reading studies to a study involving multimodal content typical for remote interpreting assignments. The paper may serve as a source of methodological guidance to scholars entering the field of experimental translation and interpreting studies.