The 2000 ATA International Certification Survey was conducted in order to quantify the opinions of the membership with regard to a variety of important international certification issues. The ultimate purpose of the study was to obtain results that could readily be used by ATA to plan future certification offerings. To facilitate ease of use, the structure of this report parallels that of the survey form, a copy of which can be found at the end of this report.

The study and subsequent report focus on such key issues as...

• Respondent demographics, such as member type, ATA certification, and country of residence
• Opinions regarding ATA?s structure and priorities
• Whether ATA certification examinations should be held only in the US or worldwide
• Predicted likelihood of various possible outcomes
• Degree of agreement or disagreement with various statements regarding international certification.

To conduct this study, ATA retained the services of Industry Insights, Inc., an independent research and consulting firm headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

The research instrument used for the study was a two page survey form that was designed by ATA, working in close conjunction with Industry Insights. The form was posted on an Internet website and an e-mail with a link to the survey site was sent to all members for whom ATA had e-mail addresses. Forms were mailed or faxed to those members who did not receive the e-mail. The survey was administered during the month of February, 2000.

All told, e-mails or forms were sent to 7,433 members (6,299 via e-mail notification, 584 via regular mail and 550 via fax). A total of 1,875 completed forms were received in time for processing, representing a 25% response rate. Based on 1,875 presumably random responses, this study has a +/- 2% margin of error, at a 95% level of confidence. (In other words, we can be 95% certain that for a question with 1,875 responses, the survey?s figure would be within +/- 2% of the actual universe?s response.)

To ensure confidentiality, completed forms were returned directly to Industry Insights. Upon receipt, the questionnaires underwent data examination to ensure that directions were followed and that the data reported were consistent, accurate and complete. This process included:

• For forms received via mail or fax, entry of data by keying personnel trained and experienced in working with survey data (data was entered automatically by the online survey respondents)
• Examination of aggregate responses for inaccuracies/errors
• Tabulation of results using standard statistical procedures.

The responses to the survey?s open-ended questions can be found in the Supplemental Report.

Detailed attributes and characteristics of the sample can be found in the Demographics tables and graphs contained in this report. It is believed that the data presented in the report represent a valid cross-section of the sampled universe. However, the statistical validity of responses for any given question varies somewhat depending on sample sizes and the demographics of response. Industry Insights, therefore, makes no representations or warranties with respect to the results of this study and shall not be liable to ATA, its members or anyone else for any informational inaccuracies, errors, or omissions in content.

Before examining the survey responses, it is first important to look at the demographics of the sample. The graph below shows the respondents? ATA member types.

Roughly four out of 10 valid respondents were ATA certified, as shown below.

Most (82%) valid respondents lived in the United States.

The demographic data are presented in more detail in the table below.

As evidenced by the following graph and table, the majority of respondents felt that ATA should be a national organization with an international orientation.

Over 60% of the valid respondents thought that ATA should treat all members equally in terms of protecting and defending interests.

In terms of where certification exam sittings should be held, the responses were divided evenly between "in the US only" and "throughout the world."

As could perhaps be expected, members living outside the US were more often in favor of holding exam sittings throughout the world.

The respondents were next presented with a series of possible scenarios and were asked to predict the likelihood of each event occurring. As shown by the graph below, the mean responses tended to be around the three or "neutral" area on the average, but this can be somewhat misleading. The reason why the average responses were around three was because large percentages of respondents fell on opposite ends of the scales, as shown by the tables on the next page.

Just over 53% of the respondents who gave an opinion thought it was likely that making certification examinations available to members living outside the U.S. will create a group of translators who will be able to undercut unfairly the rates charged by U.S.-resident translators, while 37% predicted that this turn of events was not likely.

Just over 40% felt it was unlikely that translation users who use lower cost non-U.S. resident translators will find the translation product to be of lower quality, while 37% predicted that lower quality would likely be the case.

Just over half of the respondents thought it was unlikely that non-U.S. resident translators who are presently charging less than their colleagues in the U.S. will, once they gain certification, raise their rates to match those of their U.S. colleagues and thus will no longer constitute unfairly priced competition. Just under 35% thought that this potential occurrence was at least somewhat likely.

In order to further "flesh out" the opinions of the membership with regard to overseas certification, the respondents were next presented with a series of statements and were asked to indicate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with each. The results are summarized below.

As was the case in the previous section, the responses to these statements were somewhat polarized. The following two statements met with the highest degrees of agreement:

• Regardless of economic impact, the ATA should not offer examination sittings outside the U.S. if the majority of members are upset by this policy (67.5% agreed)
• (Few, if any, national translators' organizations of other countries offer an opportunity to earn their credentials beyond their borders.) This lack of reciprocity is unfair to U.S.-resident ATA members (59.8% agreed).

The following two statements met with the highest degrees of disagreement:

• Regardless of reciprocity, the ATA should offer examinations outside the U.S. in order to assure non-U.S. resident members that they are welcome within the ATA (43.3% disagreed)
• Regardless of economic impact, the ATA should offer examination sittings outside the US in order to be a leader in the emerging global economy (42.9% disagreed).