Thanks for responding so promptly. Rather than rely only on a professional translator for any survey or interview instrument I design, I plan to use the back translation method. The steps involved are:

1. I write the instrument(s) in English.
2. A professional translator puts them into Japanese.
3. A person who is not connected with the project re-translates the Japanese back into English.
4. Any discrepancies between the propositional content of the original English and the re-translated English are analysed. The Japanese translation is altered to (hopefully) avoid any mis-interpretation. Return to step 3. (Sperber, 2004; Williams & Vogt, 2006).

Back translation is gaining a reputation for producing more valid instruments and is certainly the way that I will be going. A pilot testing of any instrument is also an imperative. Also, I have the assurance of some members of our Student Advisory Group, who are very interested in my research, that they will be as helpful as possible in providing translation, interview help, gathering participants and so on. I hope that, unlike one of the video speakers from this week’s resources (Laureate, 2012), they will follow through on their promises.

Jim

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012). The research experience. Baltimore, MD: Laureate.

Sperber, A. D. (2004). Translation and validation of study instruments for cross-cultural research. Gastroenterology, 126(1), S124–S128. http://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2003.10.016

Williams, M., & Vogt, W. P. (2006). The SAGE Handbook to Social research methods.