The Cultural Element in the Adaptation of a Test: Proposals and Reflections on Internal and External Influences

Abstract

In the framework of instrumental research, the adaptation of tests has been increasing. The aim of this paper is to explain the procedures followed for the adaptation of a test with a construct of a cultural nature to another context, reflecting on the difficulties and limitations related to its equivalence and validity. For this purpose, we start from the Test on the Construction of Historical Knowledge, originally designed for a Spanish context and targeted at elementary school students, in order to design and validate its Portuguese version. The process of “emic-etic” adaptation, in which the technical, semantic, conceptual, and metric equivalence of a test is sought, was carried out through group translation with post-translation empirical processes (expert judgement, a pilot study, and external criteria). It highlighted some issues closely linked to internal and external cultural factors. On one hand was the predominance of analytical-rational processes in the adaptation process, with an essential deep reflection on the construct and the meanings intimately linked to the context. On the other hand, were the difficulties of empirical procedures due to the qualitative nature of the construct. This led us to reflect on the possibility of minimizing the “emic” aspects in eminently cultural constructs without renouncing reliable and valid results with respect to the construct.