Survey Methodology #2003-17 - The American Community Survey (Acs) En Espanol: Using Cognitive Interviews To Test The Functional Equivalency Of Questionnaire Translations - U.s. Bureau Of The Census Page 12
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52Researchers used the CAPI version of the Spanish questionnaire translation to conduct face-to-
face interviews exclusively in Spanish. The cognitive interview protocol included probes about
the meaning of questions or specific terms. The interviews were conducted in community
centers and lasted between 30 to 50 minutes. Interviews were audio taped, and respondents
received a $30 incentive for their participation.
All respondents were over the age of 16. Most were monolingual Spanish speakers with no
knowledge of English; a few had limited English proficiency. The distribution of Hispanic
heritage is the following: 20 were from Mexico, 6 from Guatemala, 3 from Ecuador, 3 from El
Salvador, 2 from Colombia, and 1 from Puerto Rico. A total of 19 women and 16 men
participated. Respondents were schooled both in the USA (42%) and abroad (58%). Seventeen
percent had 5 years or less of formal schooling, 25% had completed grades 6-8, 25% had
completed grades 9-12 but did not graduate from high school, 17% were high school graduates,
and 17% had completed some college (no degree).
GENERAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Most questions were found to be functionally equivalent to the source document. That is, the
Spanish speaker’s interpretation of the question or concept reflected the meaning of the English
question about three-fourths of the time. For example, if the English question asked “What is
your name” and the person provided a name when he heard the Spanish question, the intent of
the target question was considered to be functionally equivalent to the source question. If the
English question asked “Are there any boarders who stay here” and the person interpreted the
translation for “boarders” as students, then the question was not considered to be functionally
equivalent to the source language, since the source language does not ask about students.
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