TABLE 2.
Summary of tools used to assess food acquisition behaviors.
| Assessment tool | Population and context | Description of behaviors assessed | Description of scale/questions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequency of food purchases | |||
| Qualitative: focus group discussions | Adolescents and their caregivers living in urban slums (urban, India) | Frequency of buying outside food | How frequently do your family members give you money to buy outside food? What foods do you buy with the money given by the family? [13] |
| Quantitative: survey (Interviewer-administered questionnaire) | Low- and middle-income households (urban and rural, India) | Purchasing behaviors | The questionnaire collected information about consumers’ purchase and physical access to various food products and perceptions on the promotional aspect of food [14]. |
| Quantitative: survey (Self-administered questionnaire) | School-going adolescents (urban, India) | Frequency of buying from the school canteen | Do you eat at the school canteen or buy foods/beverages at school? If yes, then how often…? Why do you buy these foods? Response options included taste, price, availability, and convenience [12].1 |
| Purchasing behavior of specific foods | |||
| Qualitative: interviews (semistructured interviews) | Consumers of supersized foods (urban, Pakistan) | Supersized food purchase behavior | When was the last time they ordered supersized food/drink? What causes consumers to purchase supersized food? Does larger package or supersized food within an assortment of product sizes reflect status? [22] |
| Consumers of western-imported foods (urban, Pakistan) | Western-imported foods purchase behavior | Specific questions not mentioned [23]. | |
| Consumers of western-imported foods (urban, Pakistan) | Buying behavior toward edible oil and vanaspati ghee | Preference of respondent takes value 1 if oil is preferred and vanaspati ghee otherwise. Preference of oil assessed against health concern, or due to taste/aroma (1 if Yes and No otherwise) [28]. | |
| Quantitative: survey (interviewer-administered questionnaire) | Adults (urban, India) | Frequency of purchasing probiotics | Questions helped to access acceptance, brand awareness, and willingness to purchase probiotic products [18]. |
| Adolescents (urban, India) | Fast food buying behavior | Factors influencing buying behavior toward fast food were recorded on a 3-point Likert scale (3 = most influencing factor, 2 = moderately influencing factor, and 1 = least influencing factor) [19].1 | |
| Consumers (urban, Bangladesh) | Halal food purchase behavior | How many times would you say you have purchased halal food per month? How long have you been buying halal foods? [20] | |
| Consumers (urban, India) | Meat purchase patterns | Information collected on mode of purchase (from shop, slaughter in home or front of eyes, frozen/supermarket) and preferred product type [21]. | |
| Consumers (urban, India) | Purchase behavior for health and wellness food products | How often do you purchase organically grown produce or other organic food products? [17] | |
| Consumers of organic food (urban, Nepal) | Purchase frequency of organic foods | Factors affecting buying behavior were recorded on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = not at all important and 5 = extremely important) [24]. | |
| Experts in the food industry (India) | Purchase process of organic foods | The questionnaire involved a mixture of structured and semistructured questions. Respondents evaluated the importance of 19 variables in the consumers’ purchase process on a 1–5 scale [27]. | |
| Quantitative: survey (self-administered questionnaire) | Consumers representative of households (urban and rural, India) | Nonpackaged nonbranded rice purchase behavior | Questions about frequency of purchase, quantity purchased, source of purchase, and mode of purchase [25]. |
| Young consumers/students (urban and rural, India) | Purchase frequency of organic foods | How often have you shopped for organic foods in the last 3 mo (1 = “never”; 5 = “at every opportunity”)? How many organic foods have you bought over the last 3 mo (1 = “none at all”; 5 = “a great deal”)? [15] 1 | |
| Adult respondents interested in organic foods (urban, India) | Purchase frequency of organic foods | Responses to the statement “Occasionally, I purchase organic foods” were recorded on a 5-point Likert scale, from agree to disagree [16]. | |
| Young consumers/students (urban and rural, India) | Purchase frequency of organic foods | All constructs about factors influencing organic food purchases were measured on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 for “Strongly disagree” to 5 for “Strongly agree” [26].1 | |
| Changes in food acquisition behavior due to the COVID-19 pandemic | |||
| Qualitative: interviews (semistructured interviews) | Female food gatekeepers/ those responsible for feeding their family members, COVID-19 pandemic (urban, India) | Food shopping behavior | Can you explain your food shopping experience before and during lockdown? From which sources do you usually procure food on a regular basis (before and during lockdown)? [32] |
| Quantitative: survey (self-administered questionnaire) | Adults, COVID-19 lockdown (India) | Market frequency | Information collected on the frequency of going to market during the lockdown period [29]. |
| Adults, COVID-19 pandemic (urban and rural, India) | Food buying behavior | How much has COVID-19 reduced buying frequency of food purchases? Has COVID-19 changed buying behavior toward online purchases (1 if people changed buying behavior, and 0 otherwise)? [30] | |
| Consumers, COVID-19 lockdown (India) | Meat buying behavior | Questionnaire collected information on meat procurement source, type of meat/meat product purchased, meat available even during the lockdown period, and the quantity of meat procured during COVID-19 lockdown compared with the normal situation [31].1 | |
| Quantitative: survey (interviewer-administered questionnaire) | Adults, COVID-19 pandemic (Bangladesh) | Food buying behavior | Responses recorded on a 5-point Likert scale (ranging from “never” to “always”) regarding various aspects such as: purchasing food from the supermarket, purchasing food from the grocery store, purchasing food from the local market, purchasing food from online grocery shopping sites, and ordering food from online food delivery platforms [33]. |
| Intrahousehold food acquisition practices | |||
| Qualitative: interviews (semistructured interviews) | Periurban households (periurban, India) | Food acquisition practices | In-depth interviews about current food acquisition practices and intrahousehold food acquisition [34]. |
| Low- and middle-income households (urban, India) | Where and who acquire food | Key informants (food vendors) were interviewed to explore food purchasing behavior of the households [35]. | |
| Qualitative: photovoice (participant photographs) | Periurban households (periurban, India) | Food acquisition practices | Participants photographed their food acquisition practices over a 3-d period. With these, photoelicitation follow-up interviews were conducted with participants [34]. |
| Quantitative: survey (interviewer-administered questionnaire) | Low- and middle-income households (urban, India) | Where and who acquire food | The structured survey schedule focused on the following: 1) usual food acquisition in the household, 2) household decision making on food purchases, 3) the usual food purchaser, and 4) the location of where food purchases were made [35]. |
| Online food purchases | |||
| Qualitative: interviews (semistructured interviews) | Adults, COVID-19 lockdown (India) | Pattern of online food orders | A subset of participants who were found to be food addicts based on the Yale Food Addiction Scale were asked: During this lockdown phase, have you ordered ready-to-eat (cooked) food online? If yes, how many times (Yes/No/Other) [36] |
| Quantitative: survey (self-administered questionnaire) | Adults, COVID-19 lockdown (India) | Pattern of online food orders | Yale Food Addiction Scale used to assess whether respondents were food addicts. The questionnaire asked if participants’ eating behavior caused significant distress and also whether they experienced significant problems in being able to function effectively due to their food or eating habits. Responses recorded on a 5-point Likert scale [36]. |
| Online food delivery customers (urban, India) | Recurring consumption occasions for ordering online food and factors impacting the same | The questionnaire had subsections including demographic profile, consumption and spending pattern, factors affecting online food ordering, and overall satisfaction [37]. | |
| Quantitative: survey (interviewer-administered questionnaire) | Online food delivery customers (urban, India) | Recurring consumption occasions for ordering online food and factors impacting the same | The questionnaire had subsections including demographic profile, consumption and spending pattern, factors affecting online food ordering, and overall satisfaction [37]. |
1
Validation of the tool is reported in the Methods section of the article.