Evolution of the U.S. Health and Diet Survey Instrument and Use of Pre-Testing Methods (303714)

Keywords: Survey Instrument, Pretesting Methods, Longitudinal, Iteration, Health and Diet

This poster presents an approach of continuous and evolving survey instrument testing used to develop multiple iterations of the FDA Health and Diet Survey (HDS). HDS is a nationally representative telephone survey assessing the U.S. adult population’s self-reported behaviors, knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about health and diet. The survey collects information on a variety of topics including eating practices; use of food labels; health attitudes, beliefs, and physical activities; specific diet and weight-loss practices; awareness of diet–health relationship; use and adverse experience with dietary supplements and caffeinated drinks; and demographic and health status information.

In total, 11 survey waves were conducted; each wave occurred every 3 to 5 years between 1982 and 2014 (currently the 2017 version is being developed). Various iterations of the survey questionnaire were pretested. Modifications to survey instruments were implemented based on the findings from the pretesting.

This poster demonstrates how the approach to survey instrument pretesting has changed over time and how the iterative nature of the testing impacted the design of survey instrument. Examples of how some questions evolved longitudinally are provided.