Survey methodology
Translating a questionnaire

Translation is crucial to collecting comparable survey data. Questionnaires are translated from a source language into one or more target languages, such as translating from English into Spanish and German. A team approach is recommended in the translation process to include translators, subject-matter experts and persons helpful to the process.

Survey translation best practice includes parallel translation, team discussions, and pretesting with real-life people. It is not a mechanical word placement process. The model TRAPD - Translation, Review, Adjudication, Pretest, and Documentation - originally developed for the European Social Surveys, is now "widely used in the global survey research community, although not always labeled as such or implemented in its complete form". For example, sociolinguistics provides a theoretical framework for questionnaire translation and complements TRAPD. This approach states that for the questionnaire translation to achieve the equivalent communicative effect as the source language, the translation must be linguistically appropriate while incorporating the social practices and cultural norms of the target language.
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