Capítulo 13. The adaptation process of psychological instruments: a systematic review
| Autor | Joana Da Gama y Jorge Negreiros |
| Cargo del Autor | University of Oporto, Portugal |
| Páginas | 223-244 |
CAPÍTULO 13
THE ADAPTATION PROCESS
OF PSYCHOLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS:
A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
JOANA DA GAMA
University of Oporto, Portugal
JORGE NEGREIROS
University of Oporto, Portugal
1. INTRODUCTION
Over the last decades, the definition of what represents standard proce-
dures and codes of practice has increased significantly across the studies
related to the test adaptation process. A standardized process emerges
from the application of a behavior assessment in a designated domain
plus an assessed and scored test (American Psychological Association,
2014). To follow the Standards for Educational and Psychological Test-
ing (American Educational Research Association [AERA]), the Interna-
tional Test Commission [ITC], and the American Psychological Asso-
ciation [APA] provide criteria for the development and evaluation of
tests and testing practices and postulate guidelines for assessing the va-
lidity of interpretations of test scores for the intended uses (AERA,
2014; APA, 2020; ITC, 2001; 2010; 2017).
There is a concern indicated that despite studies repeatedly referencing
the ITC Guidelines, the specific standards that support the work and the
precise phases for the guidelines, are often missing (French et al., 2014).
In this context, Hernández et al. (2020) indicate that the quality of the
adaptation process is crucial for certifying the validity and effectiveness
of the adapted test.
As standardized psychological and educational tests are essential tools
for professionals in different contexts, the adaptation process must be
characterized by quality. Consequently, the quality of the translation/ad-
aptation process is crucial to certify the validity and usefulness of the
adapted test. These are the most significant criteria for evaluating a test.
From the decade of 1920, the concept of validity was introduced for-
mally as a measure for professionals in education and psychology.
Therefore, it is commonly accepted as the most essential of all testing
concepts (Newton & Shaw, 2014). Subsequently, validity is a unitary
concept (Gómez-Benito et al., 2018). It is the degree to which all the
accumulated evidence supports the intended interpretation of test scores
for the proposed use (AERA, 2014; APA, 2020). The term reliabil-
ity/precision denotes a universal notion of consistency of the scores
across instances of the testing procedure of the classical test theory
(APA, 2014).
The current study aimed to summarize the literature about the adaptation
of tests and psychological instruments and focus on the set of guidelines.
This study will contribute to the development of the Sistema de Evalu-
ación de Niños y Adolescentes (SENA) adaptation project for the Por-
tuguese population (SENA; Fernández-Pinto et al., 2015). Therefore,
this provides information that will be applied to the next phases.
1.1. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A comprehensive analysis is important to understand why psychologists
need internationally validated guidelines on adapting psychological and
educational tests, to use in various cross-cultural/language differences
(AERA, 2014; APA, 2020; Van de Vijver & Hambleton, 1996).
Over the past few years, ITC worked to assure uniformity in the quality
of the tests adapted to the usage through distinctive cultures and lan-
guages. Because there is considerable evidence that the growth of the
globalization of the industry of test publishers plus the dissemination of
their tests in a significant number of countries has broadened the use of
psychological testing (Hambleton, 1994; Hempel, 2020; Hernández et
al., 2020; ITC, 2017).
Furthermore, there is an amount of guidelines and recommendations on
adapting psychological and educational tests at an international level,
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