The aim of this study was to translate the Institute for Medical Technology Assessment Productivity Cost Questionnaire (iPCQ) and the Medical Consumption Questionnaire (iMCQ) from English into Arabic and perform cognitive debriefing in a Saudi Arabian setting. We conducted the translation according to guidelines, including two independent forward translations and a backward translation. Cognitive debriefing was carried out in two stages. First, the pre-final translated versions of the two questionnaires were tested on a group of respondents (n = 5) using face-to-face or telephone interviews. The participants completed a copy of the questionnaires, identified items or questions that were confusing or misunderstood, and then answered a series of open-ended questions about their understanding of each instruction, question and response option. Second, another group of participants (n = 17) completed the questionnaire and circled any word that was confusing or difficult to understand and provided comments on the questionnaires. The Arabic translation and linguistic validation were realized without any major difficulties. The few changes made after cognitive debriefing generally related to changing one word to a more appropriate Arabic word. The final Arabic translation needs to be validated for psychometric properties such as validity and reliability before being recommended for use in future research.
Keywords: costs and cost analysis; surveys and questionnaires; translating.