Honing the Tools of Our Trade and the Skills Needed to Use Them

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J o u rnal of NU T R I T I O N ED U CAT I O N A N D BE H AV I O R VO L U M E 3 5 , NU M B E R 2 MA R C H • AP R I L 2 0 0 3

FRO M J N E B

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Honing the Tools of Our Trade and the Skills Needed to Use T h e mIf I we re asked the number one reason man-u s c ripts are turned down at J N E B, I wo u l dh ave to say it is a lack of confidence in re s u l t sobtained with measurement tools that havenot been properly pretested with members ofthe target audience. M e a s u rement tools liket e s t s , s u rvey s , food frequency questionnaire sand others are pretested to establish their va-lidity and re l i a b i l i t y.Validity is the extent towhich a measurement instrument or toolm e a s u res what it purp o rts to measure.R e l i a-bility is the extent to which the instru m e n tyields consistent results under identical condi-t i o n s .T h e re are several types of validity and re-l i a b i l i t y. Each is measured in its own way andm a kes a unique contri bution to our ove r a l lc o n fidence in data obtained with the instru-ment and conclusions based on these data.1

D evelopment and validation of measure-ment tools are challenging and time-consuming,as evidenced by many of the articles in this is-s u e. It draws on a vast body of literature with agrowing segment devoted solely to the mea-s u rement of food behavior and its complex net-work of determ i n a n t s .A u t h o rs publishing in theJ o u rn a l c o n t ri bute to that body of literature ona regular basis.We are delighted to bring you anissue that showcases some of this critical wo r k .

If yo u ’re like me, you spent 2 to 3 hours ata pop in lab classes as part of a core curr i c u-

lum in nu t ri t i o n . E ve rybody learned how tocalibrate and use the basic instruments ofm e a s u rement in a chemistry lab, then a bio-c h e m i s t ry lab, and an animal lab. Most uni-ve rsities offered courses in behavioral andpsychosocial measurement for students of ed-ucation and psycholog y, s o c i o l og y, c o n s u m e rs c i e n c e, and marke t i n g .M a ny nu t rition pro-grams accepted those courses as elective s , bu tonly the largest departments offered suchc o u rses in-house, with an emphasis on toolsspecific to nu t rition education, and fewer re-q u i red them as core cours e s .

B e h avioral and psychosocial measure m e n twas cove red in re s e a rch courses for gr a d u a t estudents in nu t rition at those larger unive rs i-t i e s , but precious little time was ava i l a ble fora d d ressing behavioral and psychosocial mea-s u rement when the courses also cove red an-t h ro p o m e t r ic and biochemical measure s .Some students opted to minor in disciplines inwhich behavioral and psychosocial measure-ment was more central to the curr i c u l u m ,bu tm a ny students still emerged from gr a d u a t eschool in nu t r ition without a firm foundationin the type of measurement needed in theirwork as nu t rition educators .

To d ay ’s students have more options, bu ttraining in methods of measurement specific tonu t rition education remains limited,especially in

smaller depart m e n t s ,w h e re faculty members al-ready cover too many cours e s .D e p a rtments thatdo offer a course on this topic often do it eve ryother year as an elective, not a re q u i re m e n t .

The theories and methods of measurementgrow more sophisticated eve ry day,but many is-sues remain under debate.No instrument is per-fect.Not all require the type of extensive pre-testing illustrated in these articles, but everyinstrument needs to be pretested to some ex-tent,depending on its intended use. Greater ef-f o rts are need to ensure that the academic train-ing and continuing education of professionals innutrition education include adequate attentionto the fundamentals of measurement and thecritical advances being made in this area.

E valuation is the corn e rstone of account-ability (to ours e l ves most of all). Wi t h o u tsound measurement instruments for gatheri n gd a t a , that corn e rstone is we a k .M a ny thanks tothese authors and others who are active in theongoing quest for better measurement toolsfor our pro f e s s i o n . I hope others will be in-s p i red to take up the cause.

Sandra K. Shepherd, PhD, RDEditor

1. Parmenter K, Wardle J. Evaluation and designof nutrition knowledge measures. J Nutr Educ.2000;32:269-277.

FRO M S N E. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

P re s i d e n t ’s MessageP rocess and pro c e d u res for written com-mu n i c a t i o n s : a re they really necessary ?Based on the route the board is curre n t l yt a k i n g , the answer is ye s .A key goal for SNEas an organization is to take positions thath a rness our different points of view andre p resent the strength of our dive rsity at thesame time.We want to ensure a consistent,high standard of excellence that show c a s e sSNE as the p r e m i e r organization for nu t ri-tion education pro f e s s i o n a l s .

Your board is committed to we l c o m i n g —even embracing—our philosophical differe n c e swhile working towa rd common goals for theS o c i e t y. In many are n a s ,f rom setting strategi cd i rection for SNE to taking public policy po-s i t i o n s , it is not an easy task to meld our indi-vidual points of view to consensus positionsthat re flect the Society as a whole.Please knowit can be done and I’ve seen it happen!

My experience was in early 1990s, w h e nSNE developed comments on NLEA. F r a nC ro n i n d evoted the time and energy tod evelop insightful and unique commentsreflecting the dive rsity of the group of mem-b e rs that comprised the committee to pre p a re

c o m m e n t s .This group of committed membersp rovided input, engaged in open dialog u e,and agreed to common, c o h e s ive messagesthat re p resented SNE as a whole.

In establishing processes and pro c e d u re s ,we hope to ensure a clear way to commu n i-c a t e, as well as best re p resent the breadth andscope of SNE. Lynn Pa u l has done a terri ficjob leading the effort to set guidelines forw ritten organization commu n i c a t i o n s .T h e s eguidelines ensure that sufficient and compre-h e n s ive information gathering is done, as we l las providing enough information for SNEl e a d e rship to make timely and informed deci-sions re g a rding official SNE commu n i c a t i o n s .This is a vital step in ensuring that all wri t t e nc o m munications made public and distri bu t e dby the society are truly re p re s e n t a t ive of ourd ive rs i t y. These guidelines also set high stan-d a rds for quality in the same manner as ourJo u rnal—peer rev i ew, technical editing—allc ritical for presenting ours e l ves cre d i bly tooutside gro u p s.

H ow will (OR DO?) we work with va ri-ous opinions or interp retation of scientific ev-idence? T h rough open and respectful com-

mu n i c a t i o n s , an open,ongoing dialogue to de-t e rmine where agreement can be found. T h e rewill be times where we need to draw the lineand cannot state an official SNE position be-cause our processes just do not yield a cohesivep o s i t i o n .For example, a current hot issue is the5 A Day/3 A Day debate.We have members atthe state and national levels in the dairy indus-t ry and 5 A Day national and state re p re s e n t a-t ives who will not have the same pers p e c t ive s .SNE can only provide a forum for differi n gpoints of view but will not take an official po-sition as we have members on both sides of thei s s u e.

Our goal is to establish “ d e m o c r a t i c ”p ro-c e d u res that allow all of us to constru c t ive l yc o m mu n i c a t e, work together to unders t a n do t h e rs ’ p h i l o s o p h i e s , and trust the process top roduce messages of which we can all bep roud and support .This is a lot of wo r k , bu tn e c e s s a ry wo r k , to build on the strength of ourd ive rsity and showcase SNE as the voice fornu t r ition education pro f e s s i o n a l s .

K a t hy McMahon, P h D, R D2002-2003 SNE President