1. Ecologists and conservation scientists use social science research methods to carry out studies around the world. The language and cultural context in which study instruments are applied often differ from the context in which they were originally developed. Study instruments used in cross‐cultural research need to maintain equivalency in order to ensure that the results and conclusions are not affected. Translation is a crucial part of research design, so a carefully planned methodological approach needs to be taken to adapt existing tools.
2. We present a clear, concise and easy‐to‐use procedure for researchers in conservation and ecology to translate study instruments. This five‐step guide first requires researchers to recruit a diverse and balanced team of translators, who are tasked with performing a series of forward and back‐translations. A committee approach is used to resolve differences in format, wording, grammar, sentence structure, item meanings, relevance and culturally specific references to reach a consensus on the best possible translation, which can then be pilot tested and validated.
3. As a case study to demonstrate how our method works, we adapted the ‘connectedness to nature’ scale into Chinese. Originally created in English by Mayer and Frantz, the ‘connectedness to nature’ scale measures an individual's emotional connection to nature, which is an important predictor of environmental behaviour. It is theorized that reconnecting humans to the natural world can help mitigate environmental crises.
4. Although no method is fail‐safe, by following the structured, five‐step method we present in this paper, ecologists and conservationists can employ a more thorough and rigorous approach to translating their study instruments for cross‐cultural research than commonly used methods like direct translation. Ultimately, researchers must decide on what translation procedures are appropriate for their work given constraints on time and resources.

中文翻译：

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在跨文化研究中翻译研究工具的方法论指南：将“与自然的联系”范围调整为中文

1. 生态学家和保护科学家使用社会科学研究方法在全球范围内进行研究。应用学习工具的语言和文化背景通常与最初开发的背景不同。跨文化研究中使用的研究工具需要保持等效性，以确保结果和结论不受影响。翻译是研究设计的关键部分，因此需要采用精心计划的方法来适应现有工具。
2. 我们为保护和生态学的研究人员提供了一种清晰，简洁且易于使用的程序，以翻译研究工具。该五步指南首先要求研究人员招募多样化且平衡的翻译团队，其任务是执行一系列正向和反向翻译。使用委员会的方法来解决格式，措辞，语法，句子结构，项目含义，相关性和特定文化参考方面的差异，以就最佳翻译达成共识，然后可以对它们进行先导测试和验证。
3. 作为一个案例研究来证明我们的方法是如何工作的，我们将“与自然的联系”的比例调整为中文。“与自然的联系”量表最初由Mayer和Frantz用英语创建，用来衡量个人与自然的情感联系，这是环境行为的重要预测指标。从理论上讲，使人类与自然世界重新连接可以帮助减轻环境危机。
4. 尽管没有一种方法可以确保故障安全，但按照我们在本文中介绍的结构化的五步法，生态学家和保护主义者可以采用比直接使用的其他方法更全面，更严格的方法来翻译其研究工具，以进行跨文化研究翻译。最终，在时间和资源的限制下，研究人员必须决定哪种翻译程序适合他们的工作。