SUMMARY OF ARTICLE

1. USING
PSYCHOLOGICAL
TESTS IN THE
PHILIPPINES
cross-cultural and cross linguistic
Filipinos are bilingual / multilingual
Issues related to translating
English-language tests into
Philippine language
Bias
Not all items are transferable
(e.g. the word "happy-go-lucky)
Adaptation and modifying other parts of the items might
lead to having a biased or less valid measures of
psychological construct
The goal is to achieve psychological
equivalence in translations
Types of
Equivalence
Construct / Functional /
Structural Equivalence
Quantitative Equivalence
Types of Bias
Construct Bias
Method Bias
Item Bias / Differential Item
Functioning
poor translation of the item
cultural specifics related to the
connotative meaning or cultural
significance of certain words,
items, or concepts.
External Bias
Construct equivalence research in the
Philippines
NEO PI-R (COSTA & MCCRAE, 1992)
SENSE-OF-SELF SCALES
(MCINERNEY, YEUNG, & MCINERNEY,
2001)
English Tests with Construct Equivalence
To The Filipino Translation
SOCIAL AXIOMS SURVEY (LEUNG ET
AL., 2002)
EPISTEMOLOGICAL BELIEFS
QUESTIONNAIRE (SCHOMMER, 1998)
English Tests without Construct
Equivalence To The Filipino Translation
FACILITATING CONDITIONS QUESTIONNAIRE
(MCINERNEY, DOWSON, & YEUNG, 2005),
SENSE OF SELF SCALE, AND INVENTORY OF
STUDENT MOTIVATION (MCINERNEY ET AL.,
2002).
ACADEMIC EMOTIONS QUESTIONNAIRE
(PEKRUN, 2006)
GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND LEARNING
STRATEGIES SURVEY (DOWSON & MCINERNEY,
2004)
English Tests with Construct Equivalence
administered to Filipino samples without translating
to Filipino language
ACHIEVEMENT GOALS QUESTIONNAIRE
(ELLIOT AND MCGREGOR, 2001)
THINKING STYLES INVENTORY
(STERNBERG, 1997)
LEARNING PROCESS QUESTIONNAIRE
(BIGGS, 1987)
Tests that are unable to confirm the the
structure of the original scales to the Filipino
translation
Measurement unit and full scalar
equivalence research in the Philippines
Bernardo and Ismail (2010) looked into the
equivalence of the mastery and performance
achievement goals scales in English with Filipino
and Malaysian students. They found only partial
invariance of the scales, and not full scalar
invariance or equivalence.
Ganotice, Bernardo, and King (in press) looked into
the equivalence of English and Filipino versions of
the Inventory of Student Motivation (McInerney, et
al., 2002) and also found only partial equivalence.
FEW STUDIES THAT ATTEMPT TO INQUIRE INTO
PSYCHOMETRIC EQUIVALENCE BETWEEN ENGLISH
LANGUAGE TESTS AND THEIR FILIPINO
TRANSLATIONS ACTUALLY DO NOT FIND FULL
SCALAR EQUIVALENCE
Standardization of test administration and scoring
procedures
Test administrators and scores must be sufficiently
trained and are guided by manuals and/or protocols
for test administration, scoring and interpretation.
FOR METHOD BIAS:
Practical Approaches to Reducing Bias
practical guides for managing the translation processes or
an integral management approach in translation.
make judgments about whether the test is suitable and
appropriate to the target culture in which the translation will
be used.
Harkness (2003) suggests that the translation procedures
follow several stages:
WHEN IT COMES TO TRANSLATIONS:
a) the translation stage, which may involve translation and back
translation procedures, the committee approach, or a combination
of these approaches,
b) qualitative pre-testing of the translations using feedback from
monolingual and bilingual judges in focused group discussions or
think-aloud interviews,
c) reviewing the revisions based on qualitative pre-testing
feedback,
d) quantitative pre-testing with actual administration and tests of
equivalence and bias, and
e) final adjudication or decision on a final version of the test.
GENERAL OPTIONS
FOR FILIPINO
PSYCHOLOGISTS
Developed and validate new local psychological tests
diagnosis of psychological and
psychiatric conditions
THE STEPS AHEAD FOR
FILIPINO
PSYCHOLOGISTS
USING FOREIGN
ENGLISH-LANGUAGE
TESTS
USED OF
PSYCHOLOGICAL
TESTS
recruitment &
selection
admission in schools
legal & official government procedures
ISSUES OF USING
FOREIGN
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS
IN THE PHILIPPINES
Translation of the
psychological tests
Use the original version of the test if the respondent is
adequately proficient in English.
psychological meaning of the
tests
two translations of the tests
same construct/ dimensions in
two language revisions
scores and interpretation and
there are two levels:
MEASURE UNIT EQUIVALENCE
-the scores from the two scales
may not be comparable
SCALAR EQUIVALENCE
-the scores in the two revisions have the
same quantitative origin or intercept
UNDERSTANDING AND
ADDRESSING
EQUIVALENCE AND BIAS IN
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS IN
THE PHILIPPINES
opposite or lack
of equivalence
measure different psychological construct
overlapping
different behaviors and consequences are associated
with the psychological construct in different cultural or
linguistic groups.
e.g (the term 'emotions' could be translated to
nararamdaman or damdamin)
relates to different aspects of the
psychological testing process
It has three different sources:
Sample Bias
-vast differences in
cultural experiences
Instrument Bias
-refers to characteristics of the
instrument such as nature of the
response option, demand
characteristics of the tests and
other factors related to response
bias in different cultural group.
Administration Bias
-how instruction are communicated
by the test administration to the
respondent
-provide additional explanations or
elaborations on the items.
There are specific problems at the item
level that make the item incomparable
across translations or test versions.
The results of two people who take the
same psychological exam in two
different ways and who have the same
level of understanding of the
psychological construct do not match.
There are different sources of DIF:
when scores from biased test used to
make decisions (e.g., whether to hire a
job applicant or not)
inappropriateness of the item content
We should stop assuming that these tests are valid for all Filipino
respondents.
Teachers of psychological testing and assessment courses should give
emphasis to the topics related to bias and equivalence in using
psychological tests in different cultures and linguistic groups.
Researchers should do more systematic and sustained investigations
on construct bias, method bias, item bias. There should be more
research on establishing construct equivalence or structural validity of
foreign made tests with Filipino respondents, whether these tests are
translated or not.
Researchers should prioritize investigations on widely used personality
and intelligence tests by practitioners.
Researchers should work on more translations for different Philippine
ethnolinguistic groups, and do research on the bias and equivalence of
the translations.
Researchers should publish and disseminate their results and ensure
that their findings and test translations/ adaptations are made
available to various users and practitioners even with fee.
Practitioners, particularly those working with rural and/or less-
educated clients, should deliberately seek for test translations and
adaptations for their own practice.
Practitioners should systematically observe and document their
observations and experiences involving English language versions of
the test with less educated populations.
Practitioners should systematically observe and document their
observations and experiences involving translations of the tests.
Filipino psychologists should also invest more effort, or at least provide
support for developing indigenous psychological tests.
THERE ARE TEN (10) PROPOSITIONS ACCORDING TO BERNARDO:
1.
2.
3.
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10.
LOST IN TRANSLATION?
CHALLENGES IN USING PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS IN THE PHILIPPINES
ALLAN B. I. BERNARDO
DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY
MANILA, PHILIPPINES
KAREN JANE P. MONTERO
MASTER OF ARTS IN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY - 2ND YEAR