ABSTRACT
This chapter turns the attention to another type of survey translation: translation of data collection supporting materials (pre-notification materials including survey notices, advance letters and postcards, and followup letters), and research protocol guides. It first distinguishes three levels of a successful translation of data collection materials (lexical, syntactic, and pragmatic) and then shows how word-for-word translation often fails at the pragmatic level. Based on findings from several large-scale multilingual studies, this chapter explicates why word-for-word translation is unsuccessful at conveying the intended communication of data collection supporting materials to the target population. A discourse approach is presented in this chapter as an adaptation method for translating survey materials with specific steps on how to take this approach. This chapter also explores the topic of translating research protocol guides, such as interview protocols and focus group discussion guides, by taking into consideration differences in cross-cultural communication norms.
