Differences in Fourth-Graders' Participation Rates Across Four School-Based Nutrition Studies.

Federal policy has encouraged researchers to include children in research studies; thus, it is important to report experiences recruiting children to participate in studies. This article compares fourth-graders' participation rates across four school-based nutrition studies conducted in one school district in a southeastern state. For each study, children were observed eating school meals (breakfast and lunch); interviewed regarding dietary intake; and weighed and measured.

Quality control for interviews to obtain dietary recalls from children for research studies.

Quality control is an important aspect of a study because the quality of data collected provides a foundation for the conclusions drawn from the study. For studies that include interviews, establishing quality control for interviews is critical in ascertaining whether interviews are conducted according to protocol. Despite the importance of quality control for interviews, few studies adequately document the quality control procedures used during data collection.

Assessment of interobserver reliability in nutrition studies that use direct observation of school meals.

This article (a) provides a general review of interobserver reliability (IOR) and (b) describes our method for assessing IOR for items and amounts consumed during school meals for a series of studies regarding the accuracy of fourth-grade children's dietary recalls validated with direct observation of school meals. A widely used validation method for dietary assessment is direct observation of meals. Although many studies utilize several people to conduct direct observations, few published studies indicate whether IOR was assessed.

Recency affects reporting accuracy of children's dietary recalls.

Purpose: This study evaluated the effect of recency on accuracy of fourth-graders' dietary reports.

Methods: Each of 60 randomly selected children was observed eating school meals (breakfast, lunch) and interviewed to obtain a 24-hour dietary recall using one of six conditions generated by crossing two target periods (previous day, prior 24 hours) with three interview times (morning, afternoon, evening), with 10 children (5 males) per condition. Accuracy of the school meal portions of each recall was assessed by comparing reports to observations.

Children's Social Desirability and Dietary Reports.

We investigated telephone administration of the Children's Social Desirability (CSD) scale and our adaptation for children of the Social Desirability for Food scale (C-SDF). Each of 100 4th-graders completed 2 telephone interviews 28 days apart. CSD scores had adequate internal consistency and test-retest reliability, and a 14-item subset was identified that sufficiently measures the same construct.

Accuracy of fourth-graders' dietary recalls of school breakfast and school lunch validated with observations: in-person versus telephone interviews.

Objective: To investigate the accuracy of children's dietary recalls of school breakfast and school lunch validated with observations and obtained during in-person versus telephone interviews.

Design: Each child was observed eating school breakfast and school lunch and was interviewed that evening about that day's intake.

Setting: Ten elementary schools.

Reverse versus forward order reporting and the accuracy of fourth-graders' recalls of school breakfast and school lunch.

Background: Do children recall school breakfast and school lunch intake during 24-h recalls more accurately when prompted to report meals and snacks in reverse versus forward order?

Methods: One hundred twenty-one fourth-graders stratified by race (Black, White) and gender were each observed and interviewed twice (once per order) regarding the previous day's intake. Omission and intrusion rates determined accuracy for reporting items. Total inaccuracy determined accuracy for reporting items and amounts.