The measurement and conceptualization of nutrition knowledge

This article explores the validity of the nutrition knowledge construct by examining how the construct was measured and conceptualized in research reported in the Journal of Nutrition Education that concentrated on the relationship between knowledge and dietary behavior. The study examined the researchers' assumptions about the construct's reliability, discrimination, convergence, dimensionality, correspondence and representativeness. From this examination of the main assumptions underlying the measurement and conceptualization of the nutrition knowledge construct, it was determined that there may be a sufficient number of threats to validity so that conclusions about the theoretical relationship between nutrition knowledge and dietary behavior cannot be made. The use of “knowledge structures” as a way to facilitate a better operationalization of the nutrition knowledge construct was then explored and the conclusion drawn that the methods and concepts associated with knowledge structures research could help nutrition educators develop more effective nutrition education messages and nutrition knowledge measures with potentially greater construct and predictive validity.