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A portable datalogger to evaluate recall-based time-use measures
J M Waldman1, S M Bilder, N C Freeman
1Department of Environmental and Community Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, New Jersey 08855.
Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology
|January 1, 1993
Summary
Recall diaries used in exposure assessment show fair accuracy for common locations but struggle with brief visits. Electronic methods without active subject input may improve data reliability.
Area of Science:
- Epidemiology
- Exposure Assessment
- Human Activity Monitoring
Background:
- Self-completed recall diaries are widely used in epidemiology for exposure assessment.
- The accuracy and potential biases of recall diaries remain underexplored.
- Assumptions of subject truthfulness and completeness may impact data integrity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the accuracy of self-completed recall diaries against real-time electronic data logging.
- To assess the concordance of location and activity data between two methods.
- To identify the strengths and limitations of electronic dataloggers in validating recall diaries.
Main Methods:
- Subjects used an electronic datalogger to record location changes in real time.
- Participants also completed daily recall diaries.
- Data from dataloggers and diaries were compared for concordance over 3-5 days.
Main Results:
- Good agreement was observed between recall diaries and dataloggers for frequently visited locations (e.g., home, workplace).
- Poorer agreement was found for locations with short or infrequent visits (e.g., vehicle, cellar).
- Subject compliance with active input to the datalogger presented challenges.
Conclusions:
- External validation of recall diaries is crucial for accurate exposure assessment.
- Electronic methods requiring active subject input have limitations due to compliance issues.
- Future research should focus on electronic monitoring that does not rely on user input for improved recall diary evaluation.