How Does Back Translation Fare Against Team Translation? An Experimental Case Study in the Language Combination English–German

Abstract

Abstract When it comes to quality in questionnaire translation and hence comparability in comparative research, the chosen translation method is crucial for the outcome. Few empirical studies compare different translation methods—a fact which is often deplored in the research community. To fill the gap, in this study, the team translation approach is compared against a simple back-translation approach. The starting point in both cases was the initial English–German translations of ISSP (International Social Survey Program) questions. The final translations from both approaches were assessed, with a focus on how translation issues, such as mistranslations or wording issues identified in the initial translations were addressed. While none of the twenty-nine issues in the initial translation were present in the final team translation version, twenty-two of these issues were still present in the final version after the back-translation approach. For a selected number of items, we also ran a split-ballot experiment in a web survey. Only five out of fifteen items (33 percent) that went into the experiment showed significant differences between the translations, and only one could clearly be attributed to remaining errors in the back-translation version. In sum, the final translation from the team approach clearly outperformed the final translation from the back-translation approach when it comes to text-based criteria (in particular, accuracy and fluency). The quantitative test showed that many translation issues (those remaining in the translation after the back translation step) had no effect on the estimates. Nevertheless, we ask respondents to put effort into survey responding; in the same vein, we as researchers should put effort in the survey experience by providing questions that are clearly worded and free of errors, which puts the team approach ahead of the back-translation approach.