A Spanish Translation, Adaptation, And Standardization Of The School Image Description Questionnaire (bilingualism, Parent Input, Minority Groups, Hispanics)

The problem underlying this study is the lack of an effective instrument in the Spanish language that would identify the way an American school is perceived by Spanish-speaking parents who do not speak English. The availability of such an instrument is considered to be essential for educators concerned with program development in South Florida schools with tri-ethnic enrollments.The purpose of this study was three-fold: (1) to translate the School Image Description Questionnaire (SIDQ) into Spanish, (2) to adapt the SIDQ to the Spanish-speaking culture of Dade County, (3) to standardize the SIDQ to the Dade County Spanish-speaking population of parents of children attending Dade County schools.Every effort was made to assure that the Spanish translation of the SIDQ and the English version were parallel. The newly translated version of the SIDQ, along with the English version, was submitted to a panel of five experts to ensure consistency between the original and the translation, thus verifying the Spanish translation. The success of the standardization process was dependent upon the rigid control of the instrument administration. This control extended to the materials used, the instructions, the sequence of events, and the general scoring rules.The investigation was designed and data were collected to answer the following question:Is the Spanish version of the SIDQ as valid and as reliable as its English counterpart?The findings indicated that the validity of the Spanish version of the instrument, determined by the opinion of the panel of experts, was positive, and that the reliability, measured by coefficient alpha estimates, was in an acceptable range. The study concluded that with the exercise of proper guidelines, this instrument can be translated into another language while preserving the validity and the reliability of the questionnaire.The Spanish version of the SIDQ will help determine cultural differences between majority and minority ethnic groups that may result in cultural incompatibilities between the school and its linguistic minority clients. Also, this study indicates that there is a perceived need for developing other instruments for use with a population whose native language is not English.