ABSTRACT
This chapter examines hidden, inaccessible, and hard-to-reach data sources in language industry studies from an ethical and epistemological perspective. Drawing on examples from institutional translation and interpreting studies, the chapter first describes various types of data sources that are procured by researchers and institutions that could potentially figure into research studies. Access to these data sources is discussed in relation to confidentiality, privacy, and ethics, which highlight the inherent tensions between data availability, research potential, and ethical tenets. These reflections serve as the foundation of a discussion on epistemological challenges related to how researchers can investigate research questions pertaining to institutional translation and interpreting in the language industry. Three case studies are drawn from the extant scholarship to illuminate salient ethical and epistemological issues that arise in this type of research, which involve competing codes of ethics and whistleblowing, conflicting interests between institutions and researchers, and identifying vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations. Moreover, these examples illustrate the interplay of data access, ethics and confidentiality, and epistemology, which encourages ongoing reflection on these topics when working with hidden, inaccessible, and hard-to-reach data.
