Advance Translation - The Remedy to Improve Translatability of Source Questionnaires? Results of a Think-Aloud Study

Abstract

Advance translation is a method of source questionnaire development for multilingual survey projects to enhance translatability and (inter)cultural portability. The aim is to minimize translation issues in the final translation stage. I empirically tested the results of a previously conducted advance translation in a think-aloud study and analyzed the utterances made in a mixed-method approach, calculating chi-square statistics and cross-checking these by observational notes of the think-aloud sessions. My study confirms the usefulness of advance translation in making source items better to translate, thus improving final translation quality. It appears to be particularly useful for comprehensibility issues of the source text, irrespective of the target language. I recommend that advance translations be carried out into all languages and cultures into which the final source questionnaire is to be translated. This will improve source questionnaire translatability and, thus, final translation and overall cross-cultural data quality.