The importance of online QC

Those in the market research or educational and training industries may be familiar with the term online QC, short for online quality check. This is an important part of the translation process for online surveys or training programs.

The checks make sure all questions and text are displayed properly and linking to where they should be and that no translations are missing. Not only does this make sure the journey for the user is the best it can be, it ensures your research or training objectives will be met.

There are a few different levels to online QCs so we have put together some useful points for you to consider when requesting the service as part of your translation process.

What to consider with online QC

Routing

To ensure accurate and thorough checking the linguist will need to see a routing script to test out all possible journeys, along the translated survey or training guide, including error messages

Full source text, maybe

Depending on the level of QC required you may need to provide the full source text for the translator to proofread against including any error messages and instructions outside of the survey

Inserts and piping

Scripts with extensive use of inserts or piping can be more problematic and require more extensive testing

Formats

Feedback from the online QC checker can come in various formats, such as Excel files, screenshots or comments, so be sure to let your Language Service Provider (LSP) know which you prefer

Run-throughs vs cost

When checking survey links, the linguist may need to check the whole survey multiple times to get every possible user journey. For example, in languages other than English it’s common for male, female and even non-adult respondents to be shown different questions depending on how they should be formally addressed.

Costs are also dependent on the length of survey, complexity of scripting and number of times the survey needs to be navigated in order for all possible variations to be viewed