Due to a number of factors, including cultural differences, sampling complications and language barriers, surveying the Latino community can be quite the challenge, according to a Pew Research Center report published Nov. 12.

"The Unique Challenges of Surveying U.S. Latinos" explores and exposes the challenges that exist when surveying the U.S. Hispanic population. The report suggested Latinos are typically resistant to participating in surveys, and depending on circumstances they're unlikely to answer individual questions. U.S. Latinos who are undocumented or related to undocumented individuals are more likely to resist participating in surveys based on suspicion of the government or fear of deportation.

Another contributing factor is that Hispanics are most likely to live in a cellphone-only household, and conducting cell phone interviews can be far more expensive than conducting interviews over landline. The National Survey of Latinos revealed that 68 percent of interviews were conducted on cellphones. Whether by cellphone or landline, respondents are affected by the linguistic capabilities of the interviewing staff.

Language is tricky when it comes to surveying a population in English when many respondents speak only Spanish or both Spanish and English at home. Even when translating a survey question literally, there's no guarantee that a translator will be able to capture meaning and nuance, which means that responses will vary based on the questions' presumed meaning. Acknowledging cultural differences while doing faithful translations is the best way to deliver surveys in multiple languages. However, English-language surveys employ phrases that tend to be unfamiliar in other cultures and simply can't be translated.

"Sympathetic," an ideal English term to describe a particular type of concern, has no direct Spanish equivalent. For that reason, Pew tends to avoid using the term, though there are still occasions when that word is the best word for particular survey question. English phrases such as "if ever" or "if any" do not translate; "family" in Spanish means extending family, but "extended" refers to third and fourth cousins; and in Spanish, the formal and informal pronouns are used to address respondents. Because of issues of context, formality and familiarity among Latino cultures, translating with cultural context in mind trumps literal translations.

Latinos conceptualize health in a holistic way, and consider spiritual and social well-being, as well as medical conditions when determining their health. Therefore, Latinos tend to rate their health lower than non-Hispanic whites because they are considering their overall health. Yet, Latinos score higher when it comes to public heal measures (i.e. mortality rates and blow birth rates). Additionally, foreign-born Latinos tend to fare better.

The report also showed that Latinos are more likely than other Americans to lean toward "yes" responses when surveyed, and they're more likely to provide answers that are deemed socially desirable when responding to sensitive questions, including questions about ethnical decisions, undesirable feeling toward others and voting habits. Also, because U.S. Latinos are more likely to live in multigenerational homes, questions regarding household income may be confusing or misinterpreted.

Pew Researches uses two approaches when interviewing a multilingual population. If reaching out to potential respondents living in a high Latino population, they use the "fully bilingual" method, whereby they only use bilingual interviewers, who conduct interviews in English, Spanish, or a mixture. Alternatively, they use the "modified bilingual" method where interviewers mostly speak English, but when they make contact with a respondent who prefers to speak in Spanish, a bilingual interviewer follows ups with the respondents. The fully bilingual method produces more interviews with Spanish-dominant Hispanics than in the modified bilingual method. However, employing a fully bilingual interviewing staff is expensive, but considered necessary when targeting the Latino population. Typically, just 5.3 percent of participants complete surveys in Spanish.