Cross-Cultural Translation

TLDR

Translating questionnaires for cross‑cultural research faces methodological pitfalls that can create false cultural differences due to undetected semantic inconsistencies, threatening research validity. The study aims to describe the translation and validation process of a Hebrew version of an American questionnaire for cross‑cultural comparison of medical students' attitudes toward preventive services. The authors translated and validated the questionnaire through a step‑by‑step process, adapting an American instrument for use with Hebrew‑speaking medical students. The Hebrew instrument was validated and found to be suitable for cross‑cultural comparisons, with the rigorous validation process minimizing the risk of methodological artifacts.

Abstract

Translating questionnaires for cross-cultural research is fraught with methodological pitfalls that threaten research validity. Some flaws are difficult to detect, leading to the erroneous conclusion that cultural differences are substantive when, in fact, they stem from semantic inconsistencies. We describe the process of translation and validation of the Hebrew version of an American questionnaire for cross-cultural comparisons of medical students' attitudes toward preventive medical services. The results provide evidence to support the validity of the Hebrew instrument for cross-cultural comparisons. Although it is always possible to contend that differences in cross-cultural comparisons result from metiodological flaws rather than actual differences, we believe that the arduous step-by-step process of validation described here reduces that possibility to an acceptable minimum.