Translation Fidelity of Psychological Scales

The increase in cross-national research has led to a need for assessing the translation fidelity of psychological scales. Problems with the translation process, including drawbacks of relying on bilingual translators and statistical methods based on classical test theory, are discussed. A method for assessing the quality of translations based on item response theory (IRT) is described. IRT analysis was applied to French and Chinese translations of a scale designed to measure individualism-collectivism. Results show how IRT identified several items as biased due to translation, and discussion emphasizes how this should be interpreted.