Table 2.
Comparison of Dietary Assessment Instruments
| 24-Hour Recall (24HR) | Food Record (FR) | Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) | Screener (SCR) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Study Design | Cross-sectional | X | X | X | X |
| Retrospective | X | X | |||
| Prospective | X | X | X | X | |
| Intervention | X | X | X | ||
| Scope of Interest | Total Diet | X | X | X | |
| One or a few components | X | X | |||
| Captures contextual details regarding food preparation, timing of meals, location of meals, etc. | Yes | X | X | ||
| No | X | X | |||
| Time frame of interest | Short term | X | X | ||
| Long term | X | X | |||
| Can be used to query diet in distant past | Yes | X | X | ||
| No | X | X | |||
| Allows cross-cultural comparisons | Yes | X | X | ||
| No | X | X | |||
| Major type of measurement error | Random | X | X | ||
| Systematic | X | X | |||
| Potential for reactivity | High | X | |||
| Low | X | X | X | ||
| Time required to complete | <15 minutes | X | |||
| >20 minutes | X | X | X | ||
| Memory requirements | Specific | X | |||
| Generic | X | X | |||
| Does not rely on memory | X | ||||
| Cognitive difficulty | High | X | X | ||
| Low | X | X |
Reprinted from National Institutes of Health NCI. Dietary Assessment Primer. http://dietassessmentprimer.cancer.gov/.