Evaluation of short dietary questions from the 1995 National Nutrition Survey

Six of the short dietary questions used in the 1995 National Nutrition Survey (see box below) were evaluated for relative validity both directly and indirectly and for consistency, by documenting the differences in mean intakes of foods and nutrients as measured on the 24-hour recall, between groups with different responses to the short questions. 1. Including snacks, how many times do you usually have something to eat in a day including evenings? 2. How many days per week do you usually have something to eat for breakfast? 3. In the last 12 months, were there any times that you ran out of food and couldn’t afford to buy more? 4. What type of milk do you usually consume? 5. How many serves of vegetables do you usually eat each day? (a serve = 1/2 cup cooked vegetables or 1 cup of salad vegetables) 6. How many serves of fruit do you usually eat each day? (a serve = 1 medium piece or 2 small pieces of fruit or 1 cup of diced pieces) These comparisons were made for males and females overall and for population sub-groups of interest including: age, socio-economic disadvantage, region of residence, country of birth, and BMI category. Several limitations to this evaluation of the short questions, as discussed in the report, need to be kept in mind including: · The method for comparison available (24-hour recall) was not ideal (gold standard); as it measures yesterday’s intake. This limitation was overcome by examining only mean differences between groups of respondents, since mean intake for a group can provide a reasonable approximation for ‘usual’ intake. · The need to define and identify, post-hoc, from the 24-hour recall the number of eating occasions, and occasions identified by the respondents as breakfast. · Predetermined response categories for some of the questions effectively limited the number of categories available for evaluation. · Other foods and nutrients, not selected for this evaluation, may have an indirect relationship with the question, and might have shown stronger and more consistent responses. · The number of responses in some categories of the short questions eg for food security may have been too small to detect significant differences between population sub-groups. · No information was available to examine the validity of these questions for detecting differences over time (establishing trends) in food habits and indicators of selected nutrient intakes. By contrast, the strength of this evaluation was its very large sample size, (atypical of most validation studies of dietary assessment) and thus, the opportunity to investigate question performance in a range of broad population sub-groups compared with a well-conducted, quantified survey of intakes. The results of the evaluation are summarised below for each of the questions and specific recommendations for future testing, modifications and use provided for each question. The report concludes with some general recommendations for the further development and evaluation of short dietary questions.

Conversational influences on young children's responses to misleading questions

The present study investigated the degree to which young children's suggestible responses were related to their pragmatic language ability. In Experiment 1, forty-seven 5- and 6-year-olds were read a short picture story followed the next day by a postevent synopsis that included both consistent and misleading details about the original story. Six days later, a suggestibility effect was evident with responses to questions about the details that had been misled being less accurate than to those about details not misled. Although age significantly correlated with this effect, the relationship was not significant after controlling for the children's pragmatic language ability. The procedure in Experiment 2 was identical with the exception that the thirty-nine 5- and 6-year-olds were questioned in a format that made explicit the intended reference point of the interrogation. A suggestibility effect was now not evident nor was accuracy related to age. Taken together, these results support the position that young children's suggestibility requires a consideration not only in terms of suggestible memories but also in terms of suggestible responses that can result from incorrectly interpreting the intended message of an experimenter's questions. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Child-care attendance and common morbidity: evidence of association in the literature and questions of design

Papers on child-care attendance as a risk factor for acute respiratory infections and diarrhea were reviewed. There was great variety among the studies with regard to the design, definition of exposure and definition of outcomes. All the traditional epidemiological study designs have been used. The studies varied in terms of how child-care attendance in general was defined, and for different settings. These definitions differed especially in relation to the minimum time of attendance required. The outcomes were also defined and measured in several different ways. The analyses performed were not always appropriate, leading to sets of results of uneven quality, and composed of different measures of association relating different exposures and outcomes, that made summarizing difficult. Despite that, the results reported were remarkably consistent. Only two of the papers reviewed failed to show some association between child-care attendance and increased acute respiratory infections, or diarrhea. On the other hand, the magnitude of the associations reported varied widely, especially for lower respiratory infections. Taken together, the studies so far published provide evidence that children attending child-care centers, especially those under three years of age, are at a higher risk of upper respiratory infections, lower respiratory infections, and diarrhea. The studies were not consistent, however, in relation to attendance at child-care homes. Children in such settings were sometimes similar to those in child-care centers, sometimes similar to those cared for at home, and sometimes presented an intermediate risk.

Developing multiple - choice questions in mathematics

In this paper we wish to illustrate different perspectives used to create Multiple-Choice questions and we will show how we can improve these in the construction of math tests. As it is known, web technologies have a great influence on student’s behaviour. Based on an on-line project beginning at 2007 which has been contributing to help students on their individual work, we would like to share our experience and thoughts with colleagues who have a common concern when they have the task of constructing Multiple-Choice tests. We feel that Multiple-Choice tests play an important and a very useful supporting role in selfevaluation or self-examination of our students. Nonetheless, good Multiple–Choice Test Items are generally more complex and time-consuming to create than other types of tests. It requires a certain amount of skill. However, this skill maybe increases through study, practice and experience. This paper discusses a number of issues related to the use of Multiple-Choice questions, lists the advantages and disadvantages of this question format contrasting it with open questions. Some examples are given in this context.

Validity of self-reported hearing loss in adults: performance of three single questions

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the validity of three single questions used to assess self-reported hearing loss as compared to pure-tone audiometry in an adult population. METHODS: A validity study was performed with a random sub-sample of 188 subjects aged 30 to 65 years, drawn from the fourth wave of a population-based cohort study carried out in Salvador, Northeastern Brazil. Data were collected in household visits using questionnaires. Three questions were used to separately assess self-reported hearing loss: Q1, "Do you feel you have a hearing loss?"; Q2, "In general, would you say your hearing is 'excellent,' 'very good,' 'good,' 'fair,' 'poor'?"; Q3, "Currently, do you think you can hear 'the same as before', 'less than before only in the right ear', 'less than before only in the left ear', 'less than before in both ears'?". Measures of accuracy were estimated through seven measures including Youden index. Responses to each question were compared to the results of pure-tone audiometry to estimate accuracy measures. RESULTS: The estimated sensitivity and specificity were 79.6%, 77.4% for Q1; 66.9%, 85.1% for Q2; and 81.5%, 76.4% for Q3, respectively. The Youden index ranged from 51.9% (Q2) to 57.0% (Q1) and 57.9% (Q3). CONCLUSIONS: Each of all three questions provides responses accurate enough to support their use to assess self-reported hearing loss in epidemiological studies with adult populations when pure-tone audiometry is not feasible.

Are societal changes new? Questions or trends and future perceptions on knowledge-based economy

With the emergence of a global division of labour, the internationalisation of markets and cultures, the growing power of supranational organisations and the spread of new information technologies to every field of life, it starts to appear a different kind of society, different from the industrial society, and called by many as ‘the knowledge-based economy’, emphasizing the importance of information and knowledge in many areas of work and organisation of societies. Despite the common trends of evolution, these transformations do not necessarily produce a convergence of national and regional social and economic structures, but a diversity of realities emerging from the relations between economic and political context on one hand and the companies and their strategies on the other. In this sense, which future can we expect to the knowledge economy? How can we measure it and why is it important? This paper will present some results from the European project WORKS – Work organisation and restructuring in the knowledge society (6th Framework Programme), focusing the future visions and possible future trends in different countries, sectors and industries, given empirical evidences of the case studies applied in several European countries, underling the importance of foresight exercises to design policies, prevent uncontrolled risks and anticipate alternatives, leading to different ‘knowledge economies’ and not to the ‘knowled

E-assessment in mathematics courses with multiple-choice questions tests

With the implementation of the Bologna Process several challenges have been posed to higher education institution, particularly in Portugal. One of the main implications is related to the change of the paradigm of a teacher centered education, to a paradigm that is student centered. This change implies the change of the way to assess courses in higher education institutions. Continuous and formative assessments emerged as the focus, catalyzed by electronic assessment, or e-assessment. This paper presents a case of the implementation of an e-assessment strategy, implemented in order to allow continuous, formative assessment in numerous mathematics classes using multiple-choice questions tests implement in Moodle open-source learning management system. The implementation can be considered a success.

E-assessment in mathematics courses with multiple-choice questions tests

With the implementation of the Bologna Process several challenges have been posed to higher education institution, particularly in Portugal. One of the main implications is related to the change of the paradigm of a teacher centered education, to a paradigm that is student centered. This change implies the change of the way to assess courses in higher education institutions. Continuous and formative assessments emerged as the focus, catalyzed by electronic assessment, or e-assessment. This paper presents a case of the implementation of an e-assessment strategy, implemented in order to allow continuous, formative assessment in numerous mathematics classes using multiple-choice questions tests implement in Moodle open-source learning management system. The implementation can be considered a success.