Questionnaires in translation

Abstract

"Translation of questionnaires is the most frequently chosen route to implementing 'equivalent' instruments in cross-national and cross-lingual survey research. The article presents the framework of current survey translation practice: the various procedures proposed for translation and for assessment of translation products and the respective advantages or disadvantages of each. In doing so, pointers are made to research gaps in questionnaire adaptation and evaluation for cross-cultural work and to the need for interdisciplinary transfer from cognitive survey research, translation studies and statistical analysis in order to establish a thorough-going methodology of questionnaire adaptation, assessment and documentation." (author's abstract)