U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Skip Header


Census Bureau Guidelines for the Translation of Data Collection Instruments and Supporting Materials: Documentation on How the Guideline was Developed

Written by:
RSM2005-06

Abstract

The Census Bureau developed guidelines for the translation of data collection instruments and supporting materials in order to ensure that such documents translated from a source language into a target language are reliable, complete, accurate, and culturally appropriate. In addition to meeting these criteria, guidelines recommends that the translation of data collection instruments also have semantic, conceptual, and normative equivalence. The guideline recommends that the translation of data collection instruments from a source language into a target language be conducted using a translation team. The guideline relies on the cross-cultural and survey methodology research literature and specifies and describes five steps that comprise the translation process. These steps are: Prepare, Translate, Pretest, Revise, and Document.

Page Last Revised - November 12, 2021
Is this page helpful?
Thumbs Up Image Yes Thumbs Down Image No
NO THANKS
255 characters maximum 255 characters maximum reached
Thank you for your feedback.
Comments or suggestions?

Top

Back to Header