Food Insecurity and Hunger in the United States: An Assessment of the Measure

4	Survey Measurement of Food Insecurity and Hunger	55
	Current Approach to Measurement,	55
	Relationship Between Concepts and Questions,	59
	Question Design Issues,	63
5	Item Response Theory and Food Insecurity	71
	Brief History of Latent Variable Models,	72
	Structure of Latent Variable Models,	73
	Use of Estimated IRT Models for Measuring Food Insecurity,	86
	Better Match Between the Measurement Model and the Data Collected,	92
	Conclusions and Recommendations,	96
6	Survey Vehicles to Measure Food Insecurity and Hunger	99
	Key Features of Selected Surveys,	100
	Relative Advantages and Disadvantages,	105
7	Applicability of Food Insecurity Outcomes for Assessment of Program Performance	108
	Food Security as a Measure of Program Performance,	108
8	Closing Remarks	113
	References	115
	Acronyms and Abbreviations	125
	Appendixes
A	Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement Questionnaire, December 2003	127
B	Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff	134
	Index	139