TC Test Adaptation Guidelines

(April 21, 2000 Version)

ITC Guidelines on Adapting Tests

These were developed by a 13-person committee representing a number of international organizations. The objective was to produce a detailed set of guidelines for adapting psychological and educational tests for use in various different linguistic and cultural contexts (Van de Vijver & Hambleton, 1996). This is an area of major importance as tests become used in more and more countries, and as tests developed in one country get translated or adapted for use in another. Adaptation needs to consider the whole cultural context within which a test is to be used. Indeed, the adaptation guidelines apply wherever tests are moved from one cultural setting to another - regardless of whether there is a need for translation. Hambleton (1994) describes the project in detail and outlines the 22 guidelines that have emerged from it. These guidelines fall into four main categories: those concerned with the cultural context, those concerned with the technicalities of instrument development and adaptation, those concerned with test administration, and those concerned with documentation and interpretation. All but the second of these also have direct implications for test use and for test users.

In 2006, the ITC hosted a conference on Test adaptation across language and cultures in Brussels. This conference provided information, guidance and support for updating the ITC Guidelines on Adapting Tests. Please click here for more details on the conference web site.

Context

C.1 Effects of cultural differences which are not relevant or important to the main purposes of the study should be minimized to the extent possible.

C.2 The amount of overlap in the constructs in the populations of interest should be assessed.

Test Development and Adaptation

D.1 Test developers/publishers should insure that the adaptation process takes full account of linguistic and cultural differences among the populations for whom adapted versions of the instrument are intended.

D.2 Test developers/publishers should provide evidence that the language use in the directions, rubrics, and items themselves as well as in the handbook are appropriate for all cultural and language populations for whom the instrument is intended.

D.3 Test developers/publishers should provide evidence that the choice of testing techniques, item formats, test conventions, and procedures are familiar to all intended populations.

D.4 Test developers/publishers should provide evidence that item content and stimulus materials are familiar to all intended populations.

D.5 Test developers/publishers should implement systematic judgmental evidence, both linguistic and psychological, to improve the accuracy of the adaptation process and compile evidence on the equivalence of all language versions.

D.6 Test developers/publishers should ensure that the data collection design permits the use of appropriate statistical techniques to establish item equivalence between the different language versions of the instrument.

D.7 Test developers/publishers should apply appropriate statistical techniques to (1) establish the equivalence of the different versions of the instrument, and (2) identify problematic components or aspects of the instrument which may be inadequate to one or more of the intended populations.

D.8 Test developers/publishers should provide information on the evaluation of validity in all target populations for whom the adapted versions are intended.

D.9 Test developers/publishers should provide statistical evidence of the equivalence of questions for all intended populations.

D.10 Non-equivalent questions between versions intended for different populations should not be used in preparing a common scale or in comparing these populations. However, they may be useful in enhancing content validity of scores reported for each population separately.

Administration

A.1 Test developers and administrators should try to anticipate the types of problems that can be expected, and take appropriate actions to remedy these problems through the preparation of appropriate materials and instructions.

A.2 Test administrators should be sensitive to a number of factors related to the stimulus materials, administration procedures, and response modes that can moderate the validity of the inferences drawn from the scores.

A.3 Those aspects of the environment that influence the administration of an instrument should be made as similar as possible across populations for whom the instrument is intended.

A.4 Test administration instructions should be in the source and target languages to minimize the influence of unwanted sources of variation across populations.

A.5 The test manual should specify all aspects of the instrument and its administration that require scrutiny in the application of the test in a new cultural context.

A.6 The administrator should be unobtrusive and the administrator-examinee interaction should be minimized. Explicit rules that are described in the manual for the test should be followed.

Documentation/Score Interpretations

I.1 When a test is adapted for use in another population, documentation of the changes should be provided, along with evidence of the equivalence.

I.2 Score differences among samples of populations administered the test should not be taken at face value. The researcher has the responsibility to substantiate the differences with other empirical evidence.

I.3 Comparisons across populations can only be made at the level of invariance that has been established for the scale on which scores are reported.

I.4 The test developer should provide specific information on the ways in which the socio-cultural and ecological contexts of the populations might affect performance on the test, and should suggest procedures to account for these effects in the interpretation of results.