Comparison of Techniques Used to Collect Calcium Consumption Data among Secondary Students: Interview Method and Self-Record Method

Abstract

Introduction: Selecting appropriate tools and data collection techniques is a crucial step in the process  of  research  designing.  This  study  aimed  to compare  two  techniques  used  to  collect  calcium consumption data among  Secondary Students,  i.e. Interview  method and  self-record method. Methods: Samples  were  50  secondary students  in  one  school,  recruiting  with  systematic  random  sampling.  Data collecting tools were a 24 hours recalled of food consumption interview form and a prospective three day food  consumption  self-record  form.  The  amount  of  calcium  being  consumed  per  day  was  analyzed  by INMUCAL-  Nutrients  software.  The  correlations  among the  amount  of  calcium  consumption  was analyzed, using Spearman[s  Rho. Results: Fifty students  (100%)  agreed  to be  interviewed.  Numbers  of students  recorded  their  food  consumption  in  the  first,  second  and  third  day  were  43,  42  and  42 respectively.  Only 40 students  completed  their  recorded  of  3  day  consumption.  The  median  amount  of calcium being consumed per day (milligram) collected from the interviews was 324.45, and from the first, second and third day self-record were 224.49, 229.73 and 228.00 respectively. Conclusion: An interview of  a  24  hours  recalled  of  food  consumption  technique  appeared  to  minimize  the  bias  due  to  under reporting. However, this technique may not be suitable to collect data from a large numbers of secondary students as it required several interviewers and therefore the data obtained from this technique may be prone to bias due to interpersonal (interviewers) variation. In case where a researcher decides to use a prospective self-record food consumption, our findings suggest that collecting the food consumption for 1 day,  in  a  normal  day  with  no  special  event  that  eating  is  involved,  would  yield  the  same  result  as collecting the data for 3 days.