The survey also included items focusing on eating-out behaviours and home meal and food preparation behaviours. Participants were asked to estimate how many times per week they ate
out and how much money their household spent on food outside
the home per week. Another set of items focused on the frequency
with which participants ate at a variety of food establishments,
such as fast food venues, cafeterias, or sit-down restaurants, each
week. Participants were also asked to determine the frequency of
household involvement in detailed aspects of food preparation,
including deciding what dishes to prepare, prepping food for cooking, helping cook the food, setting the table, helping to clean up
after a meal, and helping to store leftovers. Responses for these
items ranged from ‘Always’ to ‘Never’ on a 5-point Likert scale.
Lastly, impact of CSA involvement on variety and amount of produce consumed in the household was assessed. Respondents were
asked simply to rate whether involvement in a CSA resulted in
their households’ consumption of a greater amount or variety of
produce, a lesser amount or variety, or no change.
The survey concluded with a set of demographic questions
including participant age, gender, education, race, ethnicity, and
annual income for the household. These questions were modelled
after the 2008 US Census Survey and the National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey for 2007–2008 (Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, 2008; United States Census Bureau,
2008). The full survey is available from the authors upon request.
The survey was pilot-tested among 30 former CSA members
who had participated in a small, Phoenix, Arizona-area CSA between January 2008 and August 2009. Participants in the pilot test
were asked to complete the survey online and anonymously. Feedback from this pilot test offered more description of CSA members
and was used to revise questions for clarity. The revised survey was
pilot-tested two more times among graduate students in the Nutrition Program of a large southwestern university using the same
methods. Feedback from both subsequent pilot tests led to further
revisions in questions for clarity. Finally, the survey was checked
for content validity by two experts in nutrition and survey design.