Translation Methods

As cross-cultural research has become mainstream and more of a necessity in our complex world, translation of measures into different languages has also become more necessary. It is often not possible or appropriate to provide translators for large numbers of research subjects, and instead researchers rely on translated versions of already established measures. And many of the most popular measures of psychological functioning have been developed in the United States, in English. Accurate translation of already established measures is essential for the comparison of responses of two different language or cultural groups. Accurate translation is also important for the standardized tests used by the educational system. There are four main established ways to translate measures for research: one-way or forward translation, double or back translation, ...