Is it possible to prevent clients from using automatic translation add-ins when completing a questionnaire?

Question

I realised that some of the participants might have used automatic translation add ins on their mobile devices. Is it possible to prevent participants from doing so (in order to achieve a sample of participants whose language skills in the survey language are sufficient enough)? Or is there any possibility of assessing who might have used such add ins? Is this an issue that other researchers have faced as well?

Answer 1

The last instance deciding what to display to the respondent is the browser. So, if the browser decides to translate the page, there is nothing that the page could do against that.

achieve a sample of participants whose language skills in the survey language are sufficient enough

Have you considered asking them about their language skills, if this variable is important for your study?

It's not always a plugin, many browsers support a translation by default (such as Chrome or Firefox).

There may be options to circumvent automated translation for single questions. One could for example use a SVG with text instead of an item text (expecting that most browsers will not automatically translate this) or even an image. Both would not be screenreader-friendly and exclude respondents using a screen reader.

There may also be an option to detect an automated translation (e.g., use JavaScript to copy part of an element into an internal variable).