Increasing the Validity of Adapted Tests: Myths to be Avoided and Guidelines for Improving Test Adaptation Practices

Adapting or translating achievement, ability, and personality tests and questionnaires prepared in one language and culture into other languages and cultures has had a long history in educational and psychological testing though this fact is not well-known among educational researchers and measurement specialists. At least five reasons can be found in the literature for adapting tests: 1. very often adapting a test is considerably cheaper and faster than constructing a new test in a second language, 2. when the purpose for the adapted test is cross-cultural or cross-national assessment (such as with many credentialing exams), an adapted test is the most effective way to produce an equivalent test in a second language, 3. there may be a lack of expertise for developing a new test in a second language, 4. there is a sense of security that is associated with an adapted test more so than a newly constructed test especially when the original test is well-known, and 5. fairness to examinees often results from the presence of multiple language versions of a test (see Hambleton & Patsula, 1998). Unfortunately, though the practice of adapting or (simply) translating tests can be traced to the intelligence tests of the French psychologist Alfred Binet at the beginning of this century, there is substantial evidence to suggest that improved methods for adapting or translating tests from one language and culture to others are needed, and that considerably more attention should be given to this important task than it is typically given by researchers and/or test developers. Too often in practice the test adaptation process seems to be viewed as a routine task that can be completed by anyone who knows the relevant languages. One consequence is adapted tests in the target languages of interest with only superficial equivalence to the tests in the source language. The purposes of this paper are two-fold: First, a set of myths or problems which need to be discarded/overcome about the test adaptation process will be presented. These myths are widespread and undermine effective test adaptation initiatives. Second, steps for adapting tests will be offered along with a discussion of the importance of each step in the test adaptation process. Myths About Adapting Tests There are a number of myths associated with adapting tests which appear in measurement practice and should be discarded as quickly as possible: Myth 1. The preferable strategy is always to adapt an existing test rather than develop a new test for a second language group.