Planning and Design 
            Considerations for Quantitative 
            24-Hour Recall Dietary Surveys in 
            Low- and Middle-Income Countries 
            Megan Deitchler, Mary Arimond, Alicia Carriquiry, Christine Hotz,           
            and Janet A Tooze 
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
                                                       JANUARY 2020 
         
                                                        
                                                        
                                                        
         
         
         
         
        Recommended Citation 
        Deitchler M, Arimond M, Carriquiry A, Hotz C and Tooze JA. 2020. Planning and Design Considerations for 
        Quantitative 24-Hour Recall Dietary Surveys in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Washington, DC: Intake – 
        Center for Dietary Assessment/FHI Solutions. 
         
        Acknowledgments 
        We gratefully acknowledge the careful work of Marieke Vossenaar, who reviewed and provided input into the final 
        draft version of this document. 
         
        About Intake 
        Intake is a Center for Dietary Assessment that aims to strengthen policies and programs to improve nutritional 
        status by increasing the availability, quality, comparability, and use of reliable dietary data and metrics in low- and 
        middle-income countries (LMICs). We hope that the availability of valid, concise, effective diet-related metrics, 
        along with Intake technical assistance for the planning, design, collection, analysis, and use of dietary data, can 
        play an important role in helping actors in LMICs to develop evidence-based nutrition and agriculture policies and 
        programs to ensure high-quality diets for all. 
         
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        At Intake, we aim to make our technical assistance tools, templates, and guidance materials as useful as possible. 
        We therefore welcome input and feedback from users of our technical assistance documents, so that we can 
        continue to improve the materials and the technical assistance we provide. If you have suggestions or feedback 
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        feedback@intake.org
                   . 
         
        Contact Information 
        Intake – Center for Dietary Assessment 
        FHI Solutions 
        1825 Connecticut Avenue NW 
        Washington, DC 20009-5721 
         
         
        Intake.org 
         
              PLANNING AND DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR QUANTITATIVE 24-HOUR RECALL DIETARY SURVEYS IN LMICS       P/ii 
                
               Contents 
               List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................iii 
               Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 1 
               1   Why Undertake a Dietary Survey ......................................................................................................... 3 
               2   Survey Design Options and Implications for Sample Size ........................................................................ 4 
                   2.1  Design Options .............................................................................................................................. 4 
                         2.1.1  Geographic Strata ................................................................................................................ 4 
                         2.1.2  Demographic Groups to Be Targeted ..................................................................................... 4 
                         2.1.3  Approaches to Sampling ....................................................................................................... 7 
                         2.1.4  Survey Domains ................................................................................................................... 7 
                         2.1.5  Stratification and Clustering .................................................................................................. 7 
                   2.2  Information Required to Carry Out the Sampling ................................................................................ 8 
                   2.3  Representability and Weighting ........................................................................................................ 8 
                   2.4  Sample Size Calculations ................................................................................................................ 9 
                         2.4.1  Design Effect ..................................................................................................................... 11 
                         2.4.2  Planning for Non-response .................................................................................................. 11 
               3   Methodological Choices That Affect Cost and Logistics ........................................................................ 12 
                   3.1  Number of Repeat Recalls ............................................................................................................. 12 
                   3.2  Food Frequency Questionnaires..................................................................................................... 13 
                   3.3  Pre-training of Survey Respondents ............................................................................................... 13 
               4   Pre-survey Inputs Unique to Dietary Surveys ....................................................................................... 15 
                   4.1  The Food, Recipe, and Ingredient Listing ........................................................................................ 15 
                   4.2  The Food Composition Database ................................................................................................... 16 
                         4.2.1  Data on Fortified and Biofortified Foods ................................................................................ 16 
                         4.2.2  Food Groups and Processing Level of Foods ........................................................................ 16 
                   4.3  Standard Recipe Database ............................................................................................................ 17 
                   4.4  Portion Size Estimation Method List ................................................................................................ 17 
                   4.5  Portion Size Estimation Method Conversion Factor Database ........................................................... 18 
                   4.6  Probe List .................................................................................................................................... 18 
                   4.7  Nutrient Supplement Database ...................................................................................................... 19 
               5   Pre-survey Fieldwork, Training, and Piloting ........................................................................................ 20 
               6   Timing of the Survey ........................................................................................................................ 21 
                   6.1  Seasonality .................................................................................................................................. 21 
                   6.2  Extended Holidays or Periods of Religious Observation .................................................................... 21 
                   6.3  Weekdays and Weekends .............................................................................................................. 21 
               7   Rough Estimates of Costs, and Options and Trade-offs for Minimizing Them ........................................... 22 
               Appendix 1. Uses of Dietary Data ............................................................................................................ 24 
                            PLANNING AND DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR QUANTITATIVE 24-HOUR RECALL DIETARY SURVEYS IN LMICS        P/i           
       Appendix 2A. Simulation Exercise to Estimate the Precision with Which Dietary Statistics Can Be Estimated                  
       for a Range of Sample Sizes—Moderately Skewed Intakes
                                    ......................................................................... 25 
       Appendix 2B. Simulation Exercise to Estimate the Precision with Which Dietary Statistics Can Be Estimated                    
       for a Range of Sample Sizes—Severely Skewed Intakes
                                   ............................................................................. 32 
       References .......................................................................................................................................... 36 
        
       BOX 
       Box 1. Special Considerations for Collecting Quantitative 24-Hour Recall Dietary Data for Infants, Children,                 
       and Adolescents
                ..................................................................................................................................... 6 
        
                        
       P/ii       PLANNING AND DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR QUANTITATIVE 24-HOUR RECALL DIETARY SURVEYS IN LMICS