Questionnaire Translation

Questionnaire translation refers to the process of translating survey instruments (or questionnaires) into all local language(s) of the study area. It is an essential step in conducting a high quality survey. Incomplete or poor translations can, at best, result in loss in nuance intended by the research team, and at worst, completely change the meaning of a question. It can undo all the work that goes into designing carefully-worded questionnaires.

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• The research team should set aside time for back translation, which is the process of having a translator translate the local-language version of a questionnaire back to the original language, which is often English.
• Questionnaires often go through multiple stages of translation and back-translation. Therefore, version control is important, as it involves maintaining copies of each version during the translation process, so that no information is lost.
• Keep in mind that having enumerators translate on the go is not recommended either, as consistency and accuracy of translation can vary across enumerators.
• Enumerator effect is the problem that arises due to differences in the way a question is asked to each respondent because each enumerator shared a different translation of the same question.

Note: This section assumes that the working language of the research team is different from the local language(s) in the study area.

Guidelines

Researchers must keep complete, back-checked, translations for all questions in the survey instrument, and share these with enumerators during enumerator training. This is important to guarantee consistency, and helps to avoid the problem of enumerator effects (explained above).

The translation process

Lack of proper due-diligence during the translation process can cause delays, confusion, field errors, and potentially lead to inaccurate data collection. Researchers must remember that effective, or good translation takes time - so they should allocate a significant amount of time (say, two weeks)for this process, and expect a similar timeline for the process of editing and making corrections.

Researchers often rely on a content-focused pilot to gain valuable insights and feedback on the questionnaire. After finalizing and agreeing upon the contents of the questionnaire, follow these steps for translation:

1. Forward translation: This refers to the translation from the language of the research team to the local language(s). This process can take a few days to a few weeks, depending on the complexity of the questions in the survey instrument.
2. Back translation: Once researchers receive the first translation, they send the local language version only to another translator, and have it translated back to the language of the research team.
3. Reconciliation: This refers to the process of comparing the original questionnaire to the back-translated questionnaire. In this stage, researchers should highlight any discrepancies, and categorize them as either minor (like wording issues), or significant (like wording of questions).

In practice this can be done by organizing a meeting with the two translators, to discuss all discrepancies and agree on a final translation. Note:Keep track of all questions where significant content concerns were noted, and discuss them with local counterparts to ensure that the final wording reflects the original intent.

Example: A questionnaire to be fielded (shared with respondents) in Malawi to a Chichewa-speaking population. The research team finalizes an English version of the questionnaire. It is then forward-translated from English to Chichewa. The Chichewa version is then shared with a second translator for back translation from Chichewa to English. The two English versions are compared, and then the questionnaire is discussed and refined to reconcile all discrepancies between the back-translation and the original version.

The translators

Good translation requires significant time and skill. The following are the global best-practices that researchers should keep in mind when hiring translators:

1. Researchers should only work with a professional translator who has sector-specific knowledge, and has experience in translating surveys.
2. The mother tongue of the forward translator should be the local language. Similarly, the mother tongue of the back translator should be the language of the research team.
3. Researchers should cross-check all technical terminology with local counterparts who are well-versed in the area of the project. For example, for agricultural surveys, this would involve double-checking translations of specific technologies with local agricultural officers and other experts.

Sometimes researchers might be tempted to assign the job of translation to people who are not professional translators. Given below are the options, and the problem with hiring them as translators:

• Survey firm manager: The manager of the survey firm has a range of responsibilities, and oversees the overall process of conducting a survey. The manager would therefore not have sufficient time or the sector-specific knowledge required for efficient translation. Since translation is a very important part of the process, it would also help to have a person within the survey firm who coordinates with the professional translator.
• Government officials from relevant departments: This can include someone like the local agricultural officer we mentioned in the example above. While they may have the relevant sector-specific knowledge, they might not be able to give enough time to the task of translation, unless released from their primary duties. Therefore, these local officials are more useful for the purpose of cross-checking translations of technical words, and ensure that the context is not lost in translation.
• Local consultant without translation experience: Translation is a challenging process, and we have already discussed the harms of an incomplete or poor translation. Being fluent in the relevant languages is not a sufficient requirement. The task of translation requires written fluency, and not just oral fluency.

Finally, researchers must ensure that the back translator has no professional or personal relation to the first translator. This is important because otherwise power dynamics between the two translators could affect decisions made during the reconciliation stage. For example, if one translator is an employee of the other, or significantly lower in government hierarchy, it might result in compromise in the quality of the final translated draft.

Version control

Researchers can expect that they would have to make several corrections and refinements to the translations throughout the process. This can also involve performing more than one data-focused pilot, and changing the questionnaire that is used in each repeated pilot.

For instance, consider a study that aims to evaluate the impact of providing mid-day meals to villages in India on enrollment-rates. It is possible that the survey pilot initially collects very few responses, because a question was not clearly interpreted by respondents. Insufficient responses can lead to an under-powered study (see sample size and power calculations).

In this case, researchers will have to work with field coordinators and translators to work out a new version of the questionnaire that is better translated.

It is also a good idea to discuss the discrepancies in translation during Enumerator Training as a third check on the final translation, since enumerators can also provide feedback based on their prior experience. Throughout this process, it is essential to have at least one bilingual staff member that can carefully record all corrections that are made, for the purpose of documentation.

To avoid version control issues, we recommend that the paper version of the questionnaire used for Enumerator Training should print the questions in the original language as well as all local languages, side-by-side. This makes it easier to make a note of all corrections or refinements that are needed, without worrying about inconsistency across different versions.

What about cases when oral translation is required, i.e. no written language?

Enumerator Training will need to be extended to spend significant time on translation. During training, have several people suggest translations for each question, then discuss and agree as a group. Leave space on the paper version of the questionnaire for enumerators to write the transliterated versions of the questions. Spend extra time doing mock interviews, with focused feedback on the translation.

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This article is part of the topic Questionnaire Design

Additional Resources

• DIME Analytics’ guidelines on survey design and pilot