The Adaptation of Assessment Instruments to the Various European Languages
The peoples of Europe use many languages for communication. This variety of languages is, on the one hand, advantageous for the expression of local specialties and peculiarities; but there are also disadvantages. One of them is the restriction on the applicability of psychological measures since psychological assessment by means of questionnaires, tests, and other assessment instruments can only be accomplished by taking the clients’ linguistic capabilities into account. As a consequence, measures have to be developed and validated separately for each and every European language.
The development and validation of measures can be achieved in two ways: They can be developed according to one master plan or by following quite different routes. Fortunately, there is presently the tendency to accept major theoretical developments and related measures as master plans and to transfer such measures from the original language into other languages. This makes it possible that many scientists concentrate their research efforts on key concepts and theories. As a consequence, a considerable number of papers reporting on adaptations of assessment instruments were published during the last 2 years in the European Journal of Psychological Assessment(Alonso-Arbiol, Balluerka, Shaver, & Gillath, 2008; Altin & Gencoz, 2009; Brandstrom, Sigvardsson, Nylander, & Richter, 2008; d’Acremont & Linden, 2008; Faccenda, Pantaleon, Bois, & Schmitt, 2008; Fischbach & Moosbrugger, 2008; Gay, d’Acremont, Schmidt, & Van der Linden, 2008; Goudas, Magotsiou, & Hatzigeorgiadis, 2009; Ihme & Mitte, 2009; Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009; Keye, Wilhelm, & Oberauer, 2009; Roth, Decker, Herzberg, & Brahler, 2008; Rowold & Kersting, 2008; Streicher, Jonas, Maier, Frey, Woschee, & Wassmer, 2008; Tsaousis & Georgiades, 2009; Weekers & Meijer, 2008).
Of course, we cannot publish every adaptation of every assessment instrument in every European language since journal space is restricted and there are many other topics that are of interest to the readers of the European Journal of Psychological Assessment. Therefore, papers reporting an adaptation and being planned as a submission to this journal must show a very good quality in order to warrant publication. The special emphasis in evaluating the adaptation of assessment instruments lies in the quality of the translation process. Research conducted during the last decade has provided standards for the adaptation of assessment instruments which can provide guidelines for the process of adaptation and also the preparation of papers (see Hambleton, 1994; Hambleton, Merenda, & Spielberger, 2005; Van de Vijver, 2003; Van de Vijver & Hambleton, 1996). This research has made clear that linguistic, psychometric, and cultural criteria must be considered in the adaptation of an assessment instrument since there are many possible sources of failure in any attempt at adaptation. According to the results of this research, it is useful to distinguish between stimuli that enable a close translation and other stimuli that may be expected to give rise to an inappropriate result and consequently invalid measurements in a close translation. All stimuli should be assigned to the most appropriate treatment.
Various procedures have been proposed for ensuring the appropriate treatment of stimuli. For a time the translation/backtranslation procedure involving native speakers was recommended for the adaptation of assessment instruments. However, it turned out that this method cannot guarantee the achievement of high quality in an adaptation. In the meantime a number of alternative procedures have become available for this purpose, viz. study designs for checking the accuracy of translations and posthoc procedures for determining translation accuracy (see Van de Vijver, 2003). Further information concerning the adaptation of assessment instruments can be found by consulting the ITC guidelines under http://www.intestcom.org/itc_projects.htm.
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