IMPROVING DATA TO ANALYZE Food and Nutrition Policies
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This study was supported by Contract/Grant No. 43-3AEM-3-80119 between the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Support of the work of the Committee on National Statistics is provided by a consortium of federal agencies through a grant from the National Science Foundation (Number SBR-0112521). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.
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Suggested citation: National Research Council. (2005). Improving Data to Analyze Food and Nutrition Policies. Panel on Enhancing the Data Infrastructure in Support of Food and Nutrition Programs, Research, and Decision Making. Committee on National Statistics, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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PANEL ON ENHANCING THE DATA INFRASTRUCTURE IN SUPPORT OF FOOD AND NUTRITION PROGRAMS, RESEARCH, AND DECISION MAKING
JOHN KARL SCHOLZ (Chair),
Department of Economics and Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin–Madison
F. JAY BREIDT,
Department of Statistics, Colorado State University
RONETTE BRIEFEL,
Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., Princeton, New Jersey
WILLIAM F. EDDY,
Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University
ANDREW GELMAN,
Department of Statistics and Department of Political Science, Columbia University
ALAN R. KRISTAL,
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Washington
BARRY M. POPKIN,
Division of Nutrition Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina
LAURIAN J. UNNEVEHR,
Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
WALTER WILLETT,
Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, Harvard University, and Harvard Medical School
EARL S. POLLACK, Study Director
MICHELE VER PLOEG, Study Director (until October 2004)
JAMIE CASEY, Research Associate
TANYA M. LEE, Program Assistant (until October 2004)
MICHAEL SIRI, Senior Program Assistant
COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL STATISTICS 2004-2005
WILLIAM F. EDDY (Chair),
Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University
KATHARINE ABRAHAM,
Joint Program in Survey Methodology, University of Maryland
ROBERT BELL,
AT&T Research Laboratories, Florham Park, New Jersey
LAWRENCE D. BROWN,
Department of Statistics, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
ROBERT M. GROVES,
Survey Research Center, University of Michigan, and Joint Program in Survey Methodology
JOHN HALTIWANGER,
Department of Economics, University of Maryland
PAUL W. HOLLAND,
Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey
JOEL L. HOROWITZ,
Department of Economics, Northwestern University
DOUGLAS MASSEY,
Department of Sociology, Princeton University
VIJAY NAIR,
Department of Statistics and Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan
DARYL PREGIBON,
Google, Inc., New York, New York
KENNETH PREWITT,
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
LOUISE RYAN,
Department of Biostatistics, Harvard University
NORA CATE SCHAEFFER,
Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin–Madison
CONSTANCE F. CITRO, Director
Acknowledgments
On behalf of the panel, I would like to thank all of the individuals involved in the production of this report. First, I thank my fellow panel members for giving their time and expertise so generously toward the completion of this report. Each of their contributions to the discussion at the workshop and in the drafting of this report is greatly appreciated.
A major activity of this panel was a workshop, held in May 2004. I thank everyone who presented information and shared their ideas for improvements in the food consumption and expenditures data infrastructure. Their willingness to share these ideas in a somewhat informal manner during the workshop was very much appreciated. I appreciate the help of several individuals from the federal government, private firms, and universities who were consulted by staff of the Committee on National Statistics about workshop topics and potential workshop participants: Harry Balzer of the NPD Group; Mary Brandt of the Food and Drug Administration; Gary Crisafulli of ACNielsen; Helen Jensen of Iowa State University; Clifford Johnson of the National Center for Health Statistics, who also provided critical information on current details and future plans for the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; Alanna Moshfegh of the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture; and Catherine Woteki of the University of Iowa. The summary of the workshop is Appendix A.
I also thank our sponsor, the Economic Research Service (ERS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. ERS staff Elizabeth Kuhn, Nicole
Ballenger (who is now with the University of Wyoming), James Blaylock, Mark Denbaly, and Biing-Hwan Lin aided the development of the workshop and provided information to the panel.
The panel is grateful for the excellent work of the staff of the Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) and the National Research Council for developing and organizing the workshop and this report. Michele Ver Ploeg, study director for the panel until October 2004, was chiefly responsible for organizing the workshop and drafting the panel’s report. Earl Pollack, study director for the panel since October 2004, completed the report and shepherded it through the review process with the assistance of Constance Citro, CNSTAT director. Throughout, the panel benefited immensely from Connie’s advice and collaboration. We also thank Jamie Casey, research associate, for drafting the workshop summary and for providing research support, and Tanya Lee, program assistant, for handling all administrative matters for the workshop. Jerusha Nelson Peterman, science and technology policy intern with CNSTAT, gathered background information on many of the datasets discussed in the report and contacted staff at the agencies that produce these data to clarify details. The panel is also grateful to Eugenia Grohman of the reports office of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education for her professional editing of the report.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the Report Review Committee of the National Research Council. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
We thank the following individuals for their review of this report: Jay Bhattacharya, Stanford Medical School, Stanford University; Gladys Block, Public Health Nutrition Program, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley; Daniel S. Gaylin, Department of Health Survey, Program, and Policy Research, National Opinion Research Center, Washington, DC; Chris Logan, Education and Family Support, Abt Associates Inc., Cambridge, MA; Valerie Tarasuk, Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto; Parke E. Wilde, Friedman School of Nutrition
Science and Policy, Tufts University; and James P. Ziliak, Center for Poverty Research and Department of Economics, University of Kentucky.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Robert Moffitt, Department of Economics, Johns Hopkins University. Appointed by the National Research Council, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring panel and the institution.
John Karl Scholz, Chair
Panel on Enhancing the Data Infrastructure in Support of Food and Nutrition Programs, Research, and Decision Making