4.2　Research Plan

A research plan “must include a description of the technique or techniques that will be used to analyse study data” (Gay,et al.2006: 83).

Based on the research hypotheses,I have explained the functions of the three selected research methodologies in the introduction.In this section,more specifically,I will explain the empirical approach towards corpus,qualitative and quantitative paradigms as well as two means of supplementary tools,namely,a questionnaire and individual interviews.In so doing,I can form the logical,foundational and methodological bases of this study.

According to Ma and Miao,the very empirical nature of translation studies as an area of study requires that empirical models in translation studies be developed through the observation,description and explanation of phenomena of translation,which results in the empirical accumulation of knowledge (2009: 336).They also state that translation studies are descriptive rather than prescriptive,and multidisciplinary in nature.For instance,subtitle translation encompasses translation studies,intercultural communication studies and film studies,amongst others.Therefore,an empirical research method needs to be used in order to meet the needs of this empirical study in the field of translation.(https://www.daowen.com)

In this research,the methods used are a self-built parallel corpus,a questionnaire and several short interviews.The corpus will help me to test the three hypotheses,while the questionnaire and interviews

will be a supplementary method to further collate concrete and firsthand evidence relevant to this empirical research.