Development of a psychometrically valid and reliable sports nutrition knowledge questionnaire

The present range of sports nutrition knowledge questionnaires have inadequate psychometric validation, and few are up to date in a rapidly changing discipline. The purpose of this study was to design a sports nutrition questionnaire that satisfied acceptable psychometric criteria of validity (content and construct) and reliability (test-retest). The questionnaire was designed by an expert panel of six sports dietitians and distributed to five groups, selected for their expected variation in sports nutrition knowledge. Dietitians, university business staff and nutrition students received questionnaires via e-mail. The response rates obtained were 21.3% (n=49), 34.4% (n=33), and 72.0% (n=18), respectively. University business and fitness students completed questionnaires during class time. Response rates were 52.3% (n=23) and 75.4% (n=49), respectively. The questionnaire was administered a second time to the business staff and the dietitians to assess test-retest reliability. Two methods were used: 1, Pearson's product-moment correlation; and 2, a percentage calculation of questions answered in an identical manner on both test occasions. Reliability was acceptable with Method 1 yielding acceptable values (r=0.74-0.93), aside from the fluid sub-category (r=0.52). Method 2 showed good test-retest concordance with 81.2% duplication of responses of all questions. Construct validity was high, as indicated by significant mean knowledge score differences between the groups (p=0.0001). Dietitians and nutrition students achieved significantly greater mean scores than the remaining groups. The findings of this study indicate that the questionnaire is suitably valid and reliable to be used in research and practice to determine sports nutrition knowledge.