ABSTRACT
This chapter defines the role of language in survey research. It shows that language is an integral part of the survey research process and that a good understanding of how language functions in its sociocultural contexts will help with finding solutions to thorny difficulties in survey translation. This chapter argues that survey translation has its special characteristics because the end user of a survey translation needs to take the action of responding to a survey based on the information provided in the translation. This means that the translation should not only be accurate in terms of lexical items and grammatical structure but also has the pragmatic function of prompting the respondent to take the action of agreeing to participate in a survey and to answer survey questions. If a survey translation does not have this effect, it fails its purpose and function. Therefore, this book aims to outline a sociolinguistic framework that looks at survey translation in a broader context and to demonstrate step-by-step how this framework works to guide and evaluate survey translation. The book’s goals, organization, and benefits to the reader are introduced in this chapter.
