Data Collection
During the course of this project we collected approximately 488,000 child-day observations of data. Our research assistants positioned themselves near the area where the students threw away their trash. They recorded the number of fruits and/or vegetables that each child both took and ate. These data were recorded using an iPhone app that we developed. This can be downloaded for free at the Apple App Store and is called “v-project”. Here is a short video that provides more information about how to use the app.
Schools are welcome to use our data collection tools to conduct an evaluation of any approach they choose to implement. This could also provide a great real-life science experiment for students. Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have about using the v-project app. We are willing to provide any assistance you need in evaluating the data you collect.
In addition, we also have a paper based version available that we used as part of our pilot study. All of the information is recorded on the following sheet:
The notation on the sheet lists the servings consumed followed by the servings still on the tray. For example, 1/1 means that the child ate one serving and still had one serving on the tray, or 0/1 means they didn't eat any servings and there was still one serving on the tray. 0, 1, and 2 are all short for 0/0, 1/0, and 2/0. We transferred all of this information into the following excel sheet:
We can import the data from this excel sheet into our statistical program (Stata) and conduct all of the analysis on the data. If you would like to collect similar data at your school, please email us at veggies@byu.edu and we can provide additional instructions on how to collect this type of data. We can also provide help in analyzing your data so that you can evaluate the effect of any changes your school is trying to implement.