When conducting research, speed is crucial to success. To gather actionable insights from your data, you need to be able to understand and analyze responses before the information is out of date. If you wait too long, any insights gleaned would be irrelevant. When you have a global project, things can get complicated, and panic can start to set in.
How do I balance this tiny budget and timeframe against the need for accuracy? Do I need to cut corners on quality control steps to meet my deadline? If I cut corners on quality, what is the likelihood the data I collect is accurate? At that point, I may spend more time and money correcting and re-surveying.
Everyone’s considered this dilemma. Before letting yourself fall too far into that rabbit hole, look below for a few ways to help you stay on budget, on time, and walk away with actionable insights from good-quality, global data.
Linguists & Coders with the Right Know-How
When selecting a linguist for any given project, make sure that they have the cultural and linguistic know-how to avoid biasing the survey or responses, but technology know-how as well. Whether you are using data collection platforms such as, Qualtrics, Confirmit, Medallia, InMoment, or something similar, or various file formats like XML, programming script within Excel, or some combination, the linguist should have a strong working knowledge of how to navigate the programming text without disrupting the code and causing errors.
Determining whether to code directly in-language or first translating the responses then coding in English, has significant effect on cost and timing. Project or research objectives typically drive the decision, but an experienced coder can guide you through the nuances. When appropriate, you can save time and money by coding directly in-language. In addition, poorly written open-ended questions may not provide the correct data. Allow your coders to assess the questions before data collection so they can help you fine-tune your survey and capture insights. It is just like the saying – “garbage in, garbage out.”
Translation Memory & CAT Tools
Technology is always changing and improving our lives. Within the language industry, it does just that: Translation Memory and CAT tools help speed up the translation process by maintaining consistency. When utilizing these technologies, the translator is able to manage an entire translation in one place (CAT tool). If there is repetition, the system auto-populates the translator’s previous words, leaving them to simply approve the input, and making the process move much faster. This is important for pre- and post-comparisons, say you’re gauging brand awareness, you don’t want to see a change in data because a question was translated differently from one point in time to another.
Machine Translation with Human Editing
Machine Translation is great for speeding up the translation process of open-ended responses. Given this, it only becomes beneficial if you have a large volume of open-ended responses. That said, there are always two sides to the coin. When respondents have the freedom to use their own words, it’s important to include a human element to review the machine’s work, ensuring it accounts for all cultural nuances.
Global Project Management Teams
It is crucial to have ’round-the-clock service no matter where you are located. For example, there is a 12-hour time difference between Miami and Beijing. If a change is requested by someone in Miami in the middle of their workday, their colleagues in Beijing won’t see that request until the next morning when they get into the office. This could cost you an entire days’ worth of translation work. Balance your project managers around the sun and you’ll save days. If you take these factors into consideration before you begin this process, you will save time, money, and headaches in the long run. If you’re not managing the translations yourself, be sure to ask your language service provider whether they are utilizing these techniques before getting started.
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