Category Archives: Survey translation and localisation

cApStAn Founding Partner Steve Dept, from the company’s headquarters in Belgium, and Musab Hayatli, Managing Director of cApStAn Inc, USA are just back from the Biennial ESRA Conference in Milan (July 17-21, 2023) where they were both presenters. As Steve comments: “An impressive conference venue on the Bicocca university campus, insightful sessions, great connections made. …

“cApStAn LQC Founding Partner Steve Dept and cApStAn Inc Managing Director Musab Hayatli at ESRA Conference in July”

This is the 5th and final issue in our “Multilingual Skills Assessment Translation series”. The primary objective of this series is to provide a comprehensive illustration of the complexities inherent in test translation. By doing so, we aim to underscore the immense value derived from establishing a robust linguistic quality assurance design. This episode takes a closer look …

“Multilingual Skills Assessment Translation Series, Episode 5: Disentangling Proficiency in required Skills from Proficiency in Language”

The 2023 edition of the e-Assessment Association Conference, which took place in London, June 6-7, offered valuable insights, connections, and fresh perspectives to industry professionals, encouraging collaboration and knowledge exchange. It covered a broad range of topics, including language bias in AI and inclusive assessment practices, exam security enhancements, innovative test design, guidelines for validity …

“Reflections from the e-Assessment Association (eAA) Conference: Insights, Connections, and New Perspectives”

This is the 4th issue in our “Multilingual Skills Assessment Translation series”. The primary objective of this series is to provide a comprehensive illustration of the complexities inherent in test translation. By doing so, we aim to underscore the immense value derived from establishing a robust linguistic quality assurance design. This episode takes a closer …

“Multilingual Skills Assessment Translation series, part 4: Maximising fairness, reliability, and validity in multilingual tests after translation”

This article by Steve Dept, Founding Partner of cApStAn, was originally published on the ATP Global website and is part of a series supporting the ITC/ATP Guidelines for Technology-based Assessment. The article can be downloaded at this link The myth that a well-crafted test with robust psychometric properties is, in theory, always portable across languages …

“Introducing the Translation and Adaptation Chapter of the ITC/ATP Guidelines for Technology-Based Assessment”

This is the first episode of an informative series on good practice in skills assessments translation. It is based on cApStAn’s extensive experience in the multilingual assessments on which we have worked with reputable testing organisations. The purpose of the series is to illustrate the complexity of test translation and the added value of a …

“Multilingual skills assessment translation series, Episode 1: Unlocking the power of existing translations from a previous test cycle”

cApStAn team members Grace DeLee and Musab Hayatli joined survey and public opinion researchers in attending the 78th conference of AAPOR, the leading association of public opinion and survey research professionals, which took place in Philadelphia, from May 10th to May 12th. The conference provided a unique opportunity for Grace and Musab to exchange ideas …

“cApStAn LQC team attends 78th AAPOR conference in Philadelphia”

cApStAn co-founder Steve Dept is delighted to have been invited to be a speaker at the International e-Assessment and Awards conference taking place in London June 6-7, 2023. His talk, titled “Meaning shifts, perception shifts – language as a component of inclusiveness”, is scheduled for Day 1 at 11:00 BST. In multilingual or in monolingual …

“cApStAn Founding Partner Steve Dept presenting at e-Assessment 2023 on how to mitigate bias in multilingual and monolingual assessments”

In the 21st century, “accessibility” often includes language, but translating a test into the strongest language of all test takers may not be realistic. Nevertheless, passing or failing a test should not depend on reading proficiency. Tests and exams are a gate for life chances and—unless being proficient in the language of the test is …

“How fair is it to deliver your exams only in English?”

With the epic backdrop of geopolitical turmoil and environmental urgency, it may seem awkward to dwell on our minute successes. What with the barbaric invasion of Ukraine? What with the courageous revolt of the Iranian people in general and of Iranian women in particular? What about the denial of the right to education for Afghan …

“Walking at a Brisk Pace, by cApStAn’s co-founder Steve Dept  “

by Steve Dept, cApStAn CEO In multilingual surveys, there is a strong trend towards performing more “upstream” quality assurance work to reduce the need for “downstream” corrective action. The late Professor Janet A.Harkness (1948-2012) relentlessly insisted on how important it is to craft questionnaire items carefully before they serve as a basis for translation and …

“Multilingual Surveys: Five cost-effective steps to improve your questionnaire before translation begins”

by Steve Dept, cApStAn co-founder When translating a survey, a linguistically correct, fluent translation does not ensure that same constructs are measured, that the survey questions are understood the same way or, for that matter, that comparable data will be collected with the translated survey questionnaire. This explains why more sophisticated translation designs are required …

“Why back translation is inadequate to assess quality in translated surveys”