The logistics of dietary surveys

This paper discusses where time goes in the practical conduct of dietary surveys. Examples of recent surveys provide guidance on the number of dietary records that can be collected. These range from 1.3 to 16.8 dietary records per full-time field worker per week averaged over the total duration of the study. Factors particularly influencing these numbers include: the number of interviews needed to collect each record, whether the subjects are visited at home or seen in a central place, whether the survey is cross sectional or longitudinal, the number of days on each record, the complexity of the eating patterns, whether food tables require expanding with additional items and the amount of work needed to collect the information on composition and weights of foods necessary for the interpretation and coding of the diet records.