Practical report on adequacy and validity of reported dietary intake
Title: This should provide the reader with a clear description of what the report entails.
Introduction and brief review of literature: This section should describe the wider context of the research area e.g. measurement of dietary intake and adequacy of diet; the rationale for looking at dietary intake, the problems associated with the validity of reported dietary intake data and briefly introduce how validity can be estimated.
Aim: Clearly state the aim of the study; this can be in two parts.
Methods: This section should be written in the past tense and divided by further sub-headings.
Participants: who were your participants, how were they recruited
Measures: What did you measure and how, this should include characteristics reported by subjects, any equations used and referenced, reported dietary intake data, how it was collected and analysed, description of how Goldberg cut-offs were applied to the data (also presented as a table).
Statistical analysis: Paragraph stating SPSS used to analyse data, which tests were used, results considered statistically significant when p <0.05.
Results: Begin by describing participants (Table of male and female characteristics). Use statistics guide for instructions of how to draw a table.
Table to compare reported intake data of male and female subjects to appropriate DRV’s (referenced).
Table of characteristics of UR and AR followed by description in text of statistical analysis, use the statistics guide on Moodle to check how to report statistical analysis.
Table of dietary intake data of UR and AR followed by description in text of statistical analysis.
Scatter graph of EI:BMR against PAL – use statistics guide for instructions of how to draw a scatter graph.
Discussion: Discuss your findings in the context of existing literature, this is also where you can really demonstrate your critical understanding of the research area.
You should begin by stating your main finding (this should answer your aim, if your aim is in two parts then do this in the most logical order), put into context of other research and then try to explain and reasons for differences in what you have found compared to other researchers. Also why this is an important finding, what does it mean for the research area. You then do this for all other findings.
Consider the strengths and limitations of your study.
What recommendations can you make for other researchers for practise and further research.
End with a conclusion.
Points to consider:
• Flawless APA format for in text citations and references
• Provide appropriate units of measurement in the text (e.g. age 30 years, BMI 18.5 kg/m2)
• In text citations should match the References at the end
• Spell out numbers when used at the beginning of a sentence
• Explain abbreviations when first used, e.g. World Health Organisation (WHO)
• No punctuation required before citations
• Indicate page numbers
• Proof-read before submission
• Follow presentation guidance
