Translation and preliminary normative data for the Biber Cognitive Estimation Scale and the California Proverbs Tests with a Puerto Rican population
Date of Completion
January 1996
Keywords
Psychology, Clinical|Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies|Psychology, Psychometrics
Degree
Ph.D.
Abstract
The ever-growing Latino community within the United States has necessitated the development of appropriately translated and standardized testing instruments. This study addressed this issue by translating and pre-norming two scales with Puerto Ricans. The two scales were the Biber Cognitive Estimation Scale (B-CET) and the California Proverbs Test (CPT), commonly used to assess abstract thinking and problem solving. Tailored translations for Puerto Ricans were used due to the great variability in language, customs, and backgrounds among the Latino subgroups living in the United States. Translations of both scales were tailored for use with Puerto Ricans by using their typical idioms, expressions, and proverbs. The B-CET was translated using three procedures: Brislin's back translation, pretest translation procedure, and a variant of the committee translation procedure, resulting in the Spanish Cognitive Estimation Tests (S-CET). The CPT could not be translated literally, so parallel proverbs and other Puerto Rican proverbs were used. Final editing was done using pretest translation and a variant of the committee translation procedure, to create the Spanish Proverbs Tests (SPT). Both scale translations were administered to 71 normal Puerto Rican individuals to generate the preliminary normative data. Performance on the S-CET was not influenced by age and minimally by education, suggesting this scale is clinically useful with a wide range of individuals from different backgrounds. In contrast, performance on the SPT was influenced by age and education, suggesting that these variables must be taken into account when using this test clinically. Issues on translating psychological tests into Spanish, and clinical application of these scales are also discussed. ^
Recommended Citation
Chiesa, Alessandra Maria, "Translation and preliminary normative data for the Biber Cognitive Estimation Scale and the California Proverbs Tests with a Puerto Rican population" (1996). Doctoral Dissertations. AAI9707191.
https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/dissertations/AAI9707191