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 16
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52Linguistic Issue #3: Frequently Occurring Lexicon
A term or concept may be translated in any number of ways. Some of those ways may include
terms that are used with greater frequency than others. For example, in the discourse of some
areas “car” may occur more frequently than “automobile.” In terms of functional equivalence,
the challenge to questionnaire translations is finding among all acceptable translations, the
specific wording which most consistently elicits the information desired. The question “At any
time during the past 12 months, did anyone in this household receive food stamps?” illustrates a
frequent lexicon used for “food stamps” may pose measurement challenges. In the survey
context, cupones para la compra de alimentos is widely misinterpreted as a more general
concept encompassing public assistance or welfare.
After probing for specific names of programs, 42% of the 35 respondents offered the following
examples: WIC, cash assistance, food stamps, TANF, and AFDC. Respondents also mentioned
assistance from charities, coupons for food that come in the mail (e.g., Val Pak), coupons clipped
from the Sunday newspaper, gift certificates or vouchers. These interpretations may result from
using the generic term cupones para la compra de alimentos, which literally means “coupons to
buy food,” and which could feasibly include the different types of coupons mentioned by
respondents. As in the case of Social Security, those respondents who were familiar with the
concept borrowed the English term when referring to the program. Trying to find a name for
these institutions in Spanish may cause greater methodological harm than remedy, since vague
translations may be interpreted out of context and therefore threaten construct validity.
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