Skip to main content
Search
Search
    Quick Search anywhere
    Quick search in Citations
Advanced Search
Skip main navigationClose Drawer MenuOpen Drawer Menu
Previous article
Next article
Original Articles

Increasing the Validity of Cross-Cultural Assessments: Use of Improved Methods for Test Adaptations

1Laboratory of Psychometric and Evaluative Research Report No.275. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts, School of Education. Paper presented at the 23rd International Congress of Applied Psychology, Madrid, 1994.

Published Online:April 02, 2008https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759.11.3.147

Abstract

Translating or adapting psychological and educational tests from one language and culture to other languages and cultures has been a common practice for almost a hundred years, beginning with Binet's test of intelligence. Despite the long history and the many good reasons for adapting tests, proper methods for conducting test adaptations and establishing score equivalence are not well known by psychologists. The purpose of this paper is to focus attention on judgmental and statistical methods and procedures for adapting tests with special focus on procedures for identifying poorly adapted items. When these methods are correctly applied, the validity of any cross-cultural uses of the adapted test should be increased.

References

  • Angoff, W. H. , Cook, L. L. 1988 Equating the scores of the Prueba de Aptitud Academica and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (Report No. 88-2) New York, NY: College Entrance Examination Board First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Bennett, R. E. , Rock, D. A. , Kaplan, B. A. 1987 SAT differential item performance for nine handicapped groups Journal of Educational Measurement 24 41 55 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Bollwark, J. 1991 Evaluation of IRT anchor test designs in test translation studies Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Massachusetts at Amherst First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Bracken, B. A. , Barona, A. 1991 State of the art procedures for translating, validating and using psychoeducational tests in cross-cultural assessment School Psychology International 12 119 132 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Brislin, R. W. 1970 Back-translation for cross-cultural research Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 1 185 216 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Brislin, R. W. Ed.1976 Translation: Application and research New York: John Wiley First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Brislin, R. W. 1986 The wording and translation of research instruments In W. J. Lonner & J. W. Berry (Eds.), Field methods in cross-cultural psychology (pp.137-164). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publishers First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Camilli, G. , Shepard, L. A. 1994 Methods for identifying biased items Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publishers First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Candell, G. L. , Hulin, C. L. 1986 Cross-language and cross-cultural comparisons in scale translations: Independent sources of information about item nonequivalence Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 17 417 440 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Dorans, N. J. 1989 Two new approaches to assessing differential item functioning: Standardization and the Mantel-Haenszel method Applied Psychological Measurement 3 217 233 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Dorans, N. J. , Holland, P. W. 1993 DIF detection and description: Mantel-Haenszel and Standardization In P. W. Holland & H. Wainer (Eds.), Differential item functioning (pp.35-66). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Drasgow, F. , Hulin, C. L. 1986 Assessing the equivalence of measurement of attitudes and aptitudes across heterogeneous subpopulations (unpublished manuscript). Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of Illinois First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Drasgow, F. , Kanfer, R. 1985 Equivalence of psychological measurement in heterogeneous populations Journal of Applied Psychology 70 662 680 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Ellis, B. B. 1989 Differential item functioning: Implications for test translation Journal of Applied Psychology 74 912 921 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Ellis, B. B. 1991 Item response theory: A tool for assessing the equivalence of translated tests Bulletin of the International Test Commission 18 33 51 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Ellis, B. B. , Kimmel, H. D. 1992 Identification of unique cultural response patterns by means of item response theory Journal of Applied Psychology 77 177 184 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Hambleton, R. K. 1993 Translating achievement tests for use in cross-national studies European Journal of Psychological Assessment 9 54 65 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Hambleton, R. K. 1994 Guidelines for adapting educational and psychological tests: a progress report European Journal of Psychological Assessment 10 229 244 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Hambleton, R. K. , Bollwark, J. 1991 Adapting tests for use in different cultures: technical issues and methods Bulletin of the International Test Commission 18 3 32 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Hambleton, R. K. , Clauser, B. E. , Mazor, K. M. , Jones, R. W. 1993 Advances in detection of differentially functioning test items European Journal of Psychological Assessment 9 1 18 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Hambleton, R. K. , Kanjee, A. 1994 Enhancing the validity of cross-cultural studies: Improvements in instrument translation methods In T. Husen & T. N. Postlewaite (Eds.), International encyclopedia of education (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Pergamon Press First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Hambleton, R. K. , Rogers, H. J. 1989 Detecting potentially biased test items: Comparison of IRT area and Mantel-Haenszel methods Applied Measurement in Education 2 313 334 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Hambleton, R. K. , Swaminathan, H. , Rogers, H. J. 1991 Fundamentals of item response theory Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publishers First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Hills, J. R. 1989 Screening for potentially biased items in testing programs Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice 8 5 11 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Holland, P. W. , Thayer, D. T. 1988 Differential item performance and the Mantel Haenszel procedure In H. Wainer & H. I. Braun (Eds.), Test validity (pp.129- 145). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Hosmer, D. W. , Lemeshow, S. 1989 Applied logistic regression New York: Wiley First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Hulin, C. L. 1987 A psychometric theory of evaluations of item and scale translations: Fidelity across languages Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 18 115 142 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Hulin, C. L. , Mayer, L. J. 1986 Psychometric equivalence of a translation of the Job Descriptive Index into Hebrew Journal of Applied Psychology 71 83 94 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Keeves, J. P. 1992, April Technical issues in the first and second IEA science studies Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Knol, D. L. , Berger, M. P. F. 1991 Empirical comparison between factor analysis and multidimensional item response models Multivariate Behavioral Research 26 457 477 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Linn, R. L. , Harnisch, D. L. 1981 Interaction between item content and group membership on achievement test items Journal of Educational Measurement 18 109 118 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Lonner, W. J. 1990 An overview of cross-cultural testing and assessment In R. W. Brislin (Ed.), Applied cross-cultural psychology (pp.56-76). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Mayberry, P. W. 1984, April Analysis of cross-cultural attitudinal scale translation using maximum likelihood factor analysis Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Mazor, K. , Kanjee, A. , Clauser, B. in press Using logistic regression with multiple ability estimates to detect differential item functioning Journal of Educational Measurement First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Poortinga, Y. H. 1983 Psychometric approaches to intergroup comparison: The problem of equivalence In S. H. Irvine & J. W. Berry (Eds.), Human assessment and cross-cultural factors (pp.237-258). New York: Plenum First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Poortinga, Y. H. , Malpass, R. S. 1986 Making inferences from cross-cultural data In W. J. Lonner & J. W. Berry (Eds.), Field methods in cross-cultural psychology (pp.17-46). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Poortinga, Y. H. , van de Vijver, F. J. R. 1987 Explaining cross-cultural differences: Bias analysis and beyond Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 18 259 282 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Poortinga, Y. H. , van de Vijver, F. J. R. 1991 Culture-free measurement in the history of cross-cultural psychology Bulletin of the International Test Commission 18 72 87 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Prieto, A. J. 1992 A method for translation of instruments to other languages Adult Education Quarterly 43 1 14 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Rogers, H. J. , Swaminathan, H. 1994, April Logistic regression procedures for detecting DIF in nondichotomous item responses Paper presented at the meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education, New Orleans First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Royce, J. R. 1988 The factor model as a theoretical basis for individual differences In S. H. Irvine & J. W. Berry (Eds.), Human abilities in cultural context (pp.147- 165). New York: Cambridge University Press First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Scheuneman, J. D. , Bleistein, C. A. 1989 A consumer's guide to statistics for identifying differential item functioning Applied Measurement in Education 2 255 275 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Schmitt, A. P. , Holland, P. W. , Dorans, N. J. 1993 Evaluating hypotheses about differential item functioning In P. W. Holland & H. Wainer (Eds.), Differential item functioning (pp.281-315). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Shepard, L. A. , Camilli, G. , Williams, D. M. 1985 Validity of approximation techniques for detecting item bias Journal of Educational Measurement 22 49 58 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Swaminathan, H. , Rogers, H. J. 1990 Detecting differential item functioning using logistic regression procedures Journal of Educational Measurement 27 361 370 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Triandis, H. C. 1976 Approaches toward minimizing translation In R. W. Brislin (Ed.), Translation: Application and research (pp.228-243). New York: John Wiley First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • van de Vijver, F. J. R. , Poortinga, Y. H. 1991a Testing across cultures In R. K. Hambleton & J. Zaal (Eds.), Advances in educational and psychological testing (pp.277-307). Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • van de Vijver, F. J. R. , Poortinga, Y. H. 1991b Culture-free measurement in the history of cross-cultural psychology Bulletin of the International Test Commission 18 72 87 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • van de Vijver, F. J. R. , Poortinga, Y. H. in press Towards an integrated analysis of bias in cross-cultural assessment European Journal of Psychological Assessment First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Woodcock, R. W. , Muñoz-Sandoval, A. F. 1993 An IRT approach to cross-language test equating and interpretation European Journal of Psychological Assessment 9 233 241 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Zieky, M. 1993 Practical questions in the use of DIF statistics in test development In P. W. Holland & H. Wainer (Eds.), Differential item functioning (pp.337- 348). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum First citation in articleGoogle Scholar