Eating Habits of Adults During the Quarantine
Conditions: Health Behavior, Eating Behavior
Sponsor: Eliz Arter

Title of the Study: Eating Habits of Adults during the 
COVID-19 Quarantine  
 
 
NCT Number: Not yet available 
06/04/2020 
 
 

 
 
Objectives and Design of the Study: 
The main aim of this study is to investigate whether or not there has been a change in the 
daily dietary patterns of adults between the ages of 18 and 80 during the Coronavirus 
quarantine. The study will include individuals who spend most of the day at home in social 
isolation in order not to catch the virus. Since the study will be conducted as an online 
survey, participants will need to have access to the internet and will need to be fluent in 
English language. 
In this study it is hypothesised that adults will change their eating habits because of a drastic 
difference in their everyday routine. Humans are generally sociable beings and this period of 
social isolation will potentially have a negative impact on them affecting their attitude towards 
food and eating. They may turn to consuming more food as a compensation strategy against 
fear and anxiety of the unpredictable situation. However, it can also be thought that some 
people may choose to consume healthier alternatives more including fresh fruits, green 
juices or more water thinking this type of nutrition would provide protection against the virus.  
The study may also show that some individuals will be highly affected economically and this 
will alter their dietary preferences perhaps causing them to prefer less expensive foods or 
more plant-based foods which may be more sustainable economically.  
The study is composed of an online survey with 20 multiple choice questions. The 5-minute 
survey includes questions about gender, age group, current country, education level, 
profession and the number of individuals participants are living with. There are no personal 
questions that may cause any ethical concern. The rest of the questions ask whether or not 
there has been any change in the economic status of the participants, in their eating habits 
and fluid intake. Detailed questions about the changes in their dietary pattern can be seen in 
the attached Appendix (Appendix 2). 
Data collection is planned to last around 7 weeks and it is expected to reach 400 participants 
through the internet within the timeframe. After the desired number of participants will have 
completed the survey, statistical analysis will be conducted. The statistical framework of the 
study is given in more detail in Appendix 1.   
 
 
 

 
 
Appendix 1 
Statistical Framework  
The target population of this study consists of countries in which COVID-19 has 
appeared and affected dramatically leading to lockdowns and social isolation. 
Therefore it is aimed to distribute this survey to countries including the UK, USA, 
France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Cyprus, Germany, Iran, Jordan and others. 
The aim of the survey is to get a response from everyone who is eligible to take part 
in the survey. Initially, volunteer sampling will be used for each country on purpose 
which is non-random and is a non-probability sampling approach. However, in order 
to combine all countries together stratified sampling, which is a form of probability 
sampling, can be used to get a percentage of each country according to the 
population of that country to have a good representative sample of the whole target 
population. 
The data will be collected in about two months. The outcome variable is binary; 
measuring whether or not people have had a change in their eating habits during the 
quarantine period. The independent variables included are; age, gender, education, 
profession, number of people that respondents are living with, country of current 
residence, having any health problem, duration of isolation, having a change in the 
economic situation, type of food chosen for main meal, type of food chosen for 
snack, having any change in fluid intake. 
The main aim is to identify whether or not there is a statistically significant difference 
in the eating habits of different gender groups, different age groups, different 
countries etc. considering each independent factor mentioned above. 
SPSS version 25 will be used for data analysis as the statistical program. 
Significance level will be taken as α=5% and the confidence level will be reported as 
95%.  
The normality assumptions of the data will be checked by Kolmogrov-Smirnov and 
Shapiro-Wilks tests. The assumption of homogenous variances between the groups 
will be checked by Levene’s F-test. If the data is following a normal distribution, the 
difference between the categories can be tested by independent samples t-test or if 

 
 
the data is not following a normal distribution, difference between the categories can 
be tested by chi-square test or Kruskal Wallis test depending on the number of 
groups to be tested.  
Furthermore, a binary logistic regression model can be computed to identify which 
factors are affecting the outcome of the change in the eating habits in quarantine 
period and to find out how much each factor contributes to explain the overall 
change in the outcome variable. 
If the data contains missing data and if the missing data is completely missing at 
random, then complete case analyses can be used. However, if the missing data is 
not completely at random, then worst-best or best-worst case scenarios can be 
performed.  
 
 

 
 
Appendix 2 
Survey questions 
Dear Participant, 
By participating in this survey, you will be volunteering to contribute to the study and 
assessment of eating habits during the social isolation / quarantine period against the 
Coronavirus. 
The 20-question survey should not take more than 5 minutes in total. Your answers will not 
be shared with anyone, but will be used anonymously only for data collection purposes. 
Thank you for accepting to take part in the survey. 
- 
There is no ‘Back’ button in the survey. 
- 
You can skip questions that do not suit you. 
1. Please select your age group: 
18 – 24 
25 – 34 
35 – 44 
45 – 54 
55 – 64 
65 – 74 
75 – 80 
2. Please select your gender: 
Male 
Female 
Other 
Prefer not to say 
3. Please indicate your highest qualification: 
High school diploma 

 
 
University degree 
Master's Degree or above 
4. Please choose your profession: 
Student 
Teacher (public or private sector) 
Academician 
Lawyer 
Psychotherapist 
Healthcare worker (public or private sector) 
Other - private sector 
Other - public sector 
Retired 
Looking for a job 
5. How many people do you live with? 
I live alone 
I live with one other person 
I live with 2-3 other people 
I live with 2-3 other people 
I live with 4 or more other people 
6. Do you have any health problems? (Please choose between one-seven options) 
No 
Yes - Cardiovascular diseases 
Yes - Hypertension 
Yes- Diabetes 

 
 
Yes - Chronic Respiratory Diseases (asthma, COPD etc.) 
Yes- Hypo/Hyperthyroidism 
Yes- Cancer history 
Yes- Other disease/diseases not specified 
7. Please select the country where you currently live: 
Cyprus 
Turkey 
The United Kingdom 
Germany 
Italy 
France 
The Netherlands 
Spain 
Greece 
Other – Europe 
Iran 
Iraq 
Jordan 
Syria 
Other- Arabic Region 
The United States 
Other - Not specified 
8. Please indicate how long you have been in social isolation (in quarantine) in order 
not to catch the Coronavirus: 

 
 
Less than 7 days 
Between 7-10 days 
14 days 
Between 15-20 days 
Longer than 20 days 
9. Do you think that extension of the social isolation period will change your eating 
habits (for example, increase in portion size or decrease in frequency etc.)? 
Yes 
No 
I don't know 
10. Has there been any change in your economic situation due to the Coronavirus 
outbreak? (E.g. become unemployed, closure of private workplace, cuts in the 
monthly income etc.) 
Yes 
No 
11. If your answer to the previous question is ‘yes’, do you think the change in your 
economic situation will affect your eating habits? 
Yes 
No 
I don't know 
12. Do you think there has been any change in your eating habits (for example, 
increase in portion size or decrease in frequency etc.) since the beginning of social 
isolation? 
Yes 
No 
I don't know 

 
 
13. Do you think there has been any change in your main meal (breakfast, lunch or 
dinner) consumption since the beginning of social isolation? 
Yes 
No 
I don't know 
14. If your answer to the previous question is ‘yes’, which of the following changes 
have you observed during this period? (You can select between one - four options) 
There has been an increase in the amount of my main meals 
There has been a decrease in the amount of my main meals 
There has been a decrease in the consumption frequency of my main meals 
The time of consumption of my main meals has changed 
The type of food I prefer in my main meals or my cooking method has changed 
I started taking vitamin supplements in addition to my meals 
15. If there has been a change in the type of food you choose as your main meal or in 
your cooking method during this time, which of the following is/are the most 
appropriate expression(s) for you? (You can select between one-seven options) 
I prefer frozen or canned foods more 
I prefer pre-cooked ready-to-eat foods more 
I prefer cooking vegetable dishes more 
I prefer consuming legumes more 
I prefer animal-based foods (red meat, chicken, eggs etc.) more 
I cook my main meals mostly by frying or sautéing methods 
I cook my main meals mostly by boiling or grilling methods 
16. Do you think there has been any change in your snack consumption since the 
beginning of social isolation? 
Yes 

 
 
No 
I don't know 
17. If your answer to the previous question is ‘yes’, which one or ones of the following 
changes have you observed during this time? (You can select between one - four 
options) 
There has been an increase in the amount of my snacks 
There has been a decrease in the amount of my snacks 
There has been an increase in the consumption frequency of my snacks 
There has been a decrease in the consumption frequency of my snacks 
The time of consumption of my snacks has changed 
My food type and/or cooking method has changed 
18. If there has been a change in the type of food you prefer as a snack during this 
time, which one or ones of the following is/are among the most appropriate 
expression(s) for you? (You can select between one - six options) 
I prefer salty and packaged snacks such as chips, crackers etc. more 
I prefer food products such as cakes, pastries, biscuits, wafers, chocolate etc. more 
I prefer pastry foods such as puff pastry, pies etc. more 
I prefer milk desserts such as rice pudding, custard etc. more 
I prefer consuming nuts more 
I prefer consuming fresh fruit more 
I prefer consuming drinks such as freshly prepared fruit/vegetable juice, kefir etc. more 
I prefer preparing my own snacks rather than consuming packaged foods 
19. Do you think there has been any change in your fluid intake since the beginning of 
social isolation? 
Yes 
No 

 
 
I don't know 
20. If you think there has been any change in your fluid intake since the beginning of 
social isolation, which one/ones of the following is/are the most appropriate 
statement(s) for you? (You can select between one - three options) 
There has been an increase in my water consumption 
There has been a decrease in my water consumption 
There has been an increase in my tea, coffee, etc. consumption 
There has been a decrease in my tea, coffee, etc. consumption 
There has been an increase in my alcohol consumption 
There has been a decrease in my alcohol consumption