Abstract

The U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module was translated into Spanish and adapted for use in the

Dominican Republic. Qualitative assessment in a focus group was conducted to confirm the relevance of the concepts and to refine the questions. A pilot survey of 110 households in a rural, economically vulnerable community

was conducted, and the data were analyzed to assess the validity of the questions as a multiple-item measure of

household food insecurity. Both internal and construct validity appear to be acceptable, although further assessment

of two items is recommended. The Dominican survey module complements work in several other countries in

Central and South American and the Caribbean to develop a common set of food security questions for use in

diverse cultural and linguistic settings.

Measuring Food Security in the

Dominican Republic

Adaptation of the U.S. Food Security

Survey Module

Contractor and Cooperator Report No. 47

August 2008

By Mesfin Bezuneh and Zelealem Yiheyis, Department of Economics,

Clark Atlanta University, and Pedro Juan del Rosario and Luís Ortiz,

Instituto Dominicano De Investigaciones Agropecuarias Y Forestales,

Dominican Republic

This study was conducted by Clark Atlanta University and the Instituto

Dominicano De Investigaciones Agropecuarias Y Forestales under a

cooperative research contract with USDA’s Economic Research Service

(ERS) Food and Nutrition Assistance Research Program (FANRP) (ERS project

representative: Mark Nord). The views expressed are those of the authors

and not necessarily those of ERS or USDA.
Table of Contents 

Report Summary ......................................................................................................................... iii 

1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................1 

2. Measuring Food Insecurity—Overview of the U.S. Methods ..........................................3 

3. Adaptation and Qualitative Testing of the Survey Module ..............................................5 

4. Testing the DRHFSSM in a Pilot Survey .........................................................................8 

5. Internal Validation ..........................................................................................................11 

6. Construct Validation .......................................................................................................23 

7. Summary and Conclusions .............................................................................................25 

References...................................................................................................................................27 

Appendix A. Focus Group ..........................................................................................................31 

Appendix B. The Rasch Model in Food Security Measurement: Basic Concepts, 

 Parameters, and Statistics ...............................................................................................33 

Appendix C. The Dominican Republic Food Security Questions ..............................................39 

Appendix D. Comparison of Questions in the The Dominican Republic 

 Food Security Pilot Survey and the UCLA/USDA Standard .........................................45 

ii
REPORT SUMMARY 

The purpose of this study was to adapt, translate, and test the U.S. Household Food Security 

Survey Module for use in the Dominican Republic. The module was translated into Spanish, 

assessed in a focus group, and administered as a pilot in a household survey of 110 low-income 

families in the Dominican Republic. The internal validity of a measure of food insecurity derived 

from the data was assessed using statistical methods based on the Rasch measurement model. 

The construct validity of the measure was assessed by examining its associations with household 

characteristics that were expected to cause or result from food insecurity. 

The adapted Dominican Republic Household Food Security Survey Module appears to perform 

well as a measure of household food insecurity. Qualitative evidence from focus groups 

confirmed the relevance of the behaviors and conditions elicited by the module as indicators of 

food access difficulties. The pilot survey of an economically vulnerable sample of 110 

households in a rural community confirmed the practicality of administration. Internal validity of 

the set of items derived from the response data was acceptable, although two of the questions 

should be explored further in focus groups or cognitive interviewing to improve them prior to 

widespread use. Separate scales to measure adult and child food insecurity are recommended for 

future use rather than a single scale combining adult and child items. 

Construct validity was evidenced by the following associations: 

• Families with literate householders were more food secure than their respective 

counterparts. 

• Larger families were somewhat more likely to experience food insecurity with severe 

hunger. 

• Reports that the household sometimes or often did not have enough to eat (in response to 

a question that is not part of the food security scale) were very strongly correlated with 

food insecurity with hunger. 

• Households with employed members tended to enjoy a higher degree of food security 

than households with no employed adults. 

iii
iv

• All food secure households reported that they resided “not far” from the market where 

they make purchases. Those who were located far from the market experienced severe 

hunger at a higher rate than households residing near by. 

• The probability of being food secure was higher in households where women contributed 

in generating income than in families where they did not. 

• The probability of being food secure was higher and the probability of severe hunger 

lower among respondents who felt that their current level of livelihood was “good” or 

“very good” than among those who described their life situation as “not very good” or 

“not good at all.” 

Further construct validation should be undertaken with a focus on associations with food intakes 

and nutritional status. 

The descriptive results of the pilot survey indicated a very high prevalence of food insecurity in 

the Las Tablas community. Seventy-six percent of the surveyed households were food insecure 

with hunger among adults (during the 30 days prior to the survey) and 72 percent were food 

insecure with hunger among children. Adults were food secure in only 12.7 percent of the 

surveyed households and were fully food secure (i.e., reported no food-access difficulties) in 

only 5.5 percent. Although these results are from a small sample in an area known to be 

economcally vulnerable, the high prevalence of food insecurity suggests the relevance and 

importance of measuring food security in the Dominican Republic. 

NOTE ON RELATED RESEARCH: Results from this study and similar research in several 

other Latin American countries were compared in a conference in 2007 (Perez-Escamilla et 

al., 2007). A standardized survey module recommended for use throughout the region, the 

Escala Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Seguridad Alimentaria (ELCSA) was developed out of 

that process. ELCSA differs in several ways from the scale used in the present study. 

Researchers should consider the ELCSAand recommendations from the conference along 

with the findings in this report when developing food security measurement methods for use in 

other Latin American and Caribbean countries. 
1. INTRODUCTION 

In spite of the long period of economic growth and relatively low unemployment that 

characterized the Americas over the previous decade, food insufficiency and hunger continue to 

affect a substantial proportion of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean (Leipziger, 

2001; DePalma, 2001). As food insufficiency is recognized to pose long-lasting challenge to 

nutrition, health and social policy, researchers both at public and private institutions have 

recently exhibited renewed and growing interest in its measurement at the household and 

individual levels (Bickel, et al, 2000, 1998; Carlson, et al, 1999; Olson, 1999; U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, 1995; Girvan, 2001). 

Most of the recent research on the subject uses food insecurity as a core indicator of the 

deprivation of basic food needs, drawing on concepts and measurement methods developed in 

the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Food security, insecurity, and the related 

condition of hunger are conceptualized as follows: 

Food Security—“Access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy 

life. Food security includes at a minimum: (1) the ready availability of nutritionally 

adequate and safe foods, and (2) an assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in 

socially acceptable ways (e.g., without resorting to emergency food supplies, scavenging, 

stealing, or other coping strategies).” 

Food insecurity—“Limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe 

foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable 

ways.” 

Hunger—“The uneasy or painful sensation caused by a lack of food. The recurrent and 

involuntary lack of access to food. Hunger may produce malnutrition over time .... 

Hunger ... is a potential, although not necessary, consequence of food insecurity.” 

(Anderson, 1990; Bickel et al., 2000).

1
Food security, in this sense, is an important foundation for good nutrition, health, and children’s 

development. Measuring and monitoring food security can provide important information on the 

extent of unmet food need, and the characteristics of those in greatest need. 

The U.S. food security measurement methods assess food insecurity as experienced by 

households based on their self-reports of behaviors, experiences, and conditions that are known 

to characterize households having difficulty meeting their food needs. Responses to a 

standardized set of questions, the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module (USHFSSM), 

are combined to form the U.S. Household Food Security Scale, which measures the severity of 

household food insecurity as perceived, experienced and described by respondents. The U.S. 

food security measurement methods have been adapted for use in a number of other countries 

(Coates et al., 2006a; Coates et al., 2006b; Melgar-Quiñonez et al., 2006; Melgar-Quiñonez et 

al., 2007; Frongillo and Nanama, 2006; Health Canada, 2007). 

 

The purpose of this study was to adapt, translate, and test the USHFSSM for use in the 

Dominican Republic (DR). The translated module was assessed in a focus group and 

administered as a pilot in a household survey of 110 low-income families in the DR. The internal 

validity of measures of food insecurity derived from the data was assessed using statistical 

methods based on the Rasch measurement model. The construct validity of the measure was 

assessed by examining its associations with household characteristics that were expected to cause 

or result from food insecurity. 

NOTE ON RELATED RESEARCH: Results from this study and similar research in several 

other Latin American countries were compared in a conference in 2007 (Pérez-Escamilla et 

al., 2007). A standardized survey module recommended for use throughout the region, the 

Escala Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Seguridad Alimentaria (ELCSA) was developed out of 

that process. ELCSA differs in several ways from the scale used in the present study. 

Researchers should consider the ELCSAand recommendations from the conference along 

with the findings in this report when developing food security measurement methods for use in 

other Latin American and Caribbean countries. 

2
2. MEASURING FOOD INSECURITY—OVERVIEW OF THE U.S. METHODS 

The U.S. Household Food Security Scale is a measure of the severity of household food stress or 

food access problems. It is based on self-reported behaviors, experiences, and conditions in 

surveyed households. One member of each sampled household is interviewed using a 

standardized survey instrument—the USHFSSM. The food security status of each household is 

assessed by responses to 18 questions (in the full module) about food-related behaviors, 

experiences, and conditions that are known to characterize households having difficulty meeting 

their food needs. 

The USHFSSM and U.S. Household Food Security Scale were developed by the Food Security 

Measurement Project, established in 1992 pursuant to the National Nutrition Monitoring and 

Related Research Act, 1990. The Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture 

(USDA), and the National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Department of Health and Human 

Services, provided leadership for the project, which included several federal government 

agencies along with academic and private research institutions (Hamilton et al. 1997a). The 

project designed a survey instrument with a view to “obtaining information on a variety of 

specific conditions, experiences, and behaviors that serve as indicators of the varying degrees of 

the severity of [food insecurity]” (Bickel et al., 2000, p. 9). 

The questions in the USHFSSM cover a wide range of severity of food access problems ranging 

from worrying about running out of food to children not eating for a whole day. Each question 

specifies the lack of money to obtain food as the reason for the condition or behavior, so the 

scale is not affected by hunger due to voluntary dieting or fasting. In the standard module, all 

questions are referenced to the previous 12 months, but shorter time references (e.g., 30 days) are 

also practical. 

Responses to the 18 questions (or the 10 items in households with no child present) are combined 

into a scale using non-linear statistical methods based on the Rasch measurement model. The 

scale provides a continuous, graduated measure of the severity of food deprivation across the 

range of severity encountered in U.S. households. Based on their food security scale scores, 

3
households are also classified into three categories for monitoring and statistical analysis of the 

food security status of the population. Prior to 2006, the categories were described as “food 

secure,” “food insecure without hunger,” and “food insecure with hunger.”1

 In the early 

development of the measure, the category “food insecure with hunger” was further subdivided 

into “food insecure with hunger—moderate” and “food insecure with hunger—severe.” 

Although this subdivision has been dropped in the U.S., it was considered to provide a useful 

differentiation in the more economically vulnerable population of the DR and was retained in 

this study.2 Operationally (based on the cognitive content of the items identifying each category), 

the categories may be characterized as follows: 

• Food Secure— Households show no or minimal evidence of food insecurity. 

• Food Insecure without hunger— Food insecurity is evident in household members' 

concerns about adequacy of the household food supply and in adjustments to household 

food management, including reduced quality of food and increased unusual coping 

patterns. Little or no reduction in members' food intake is reported. 

• Food insecure with hunger (moderate) — Food intake for adults in the household has 

been reduced to an extent that implies that adults have repeatedly experienced the 

physical sensation of hunger. Such reductions are rarely observed among children in 

households that have food insecurity in this range of severity.

• Food insecure with hunger (severe) — At this level, all households with children have 

reduced the children's food intake to an extent indicating that the children have 

experienced hunger. For some other households with children, this already has occurred 

at an earlier stage of severity. Adults in households with and without children have 

repeatedly experienced more extensive reductions in food intake.

 

1

 Beginning in 2006, USDA introduced new terminology to describe food insecurity, revising “food insecure 

without hunger” to “low food security” and “food insecure with hunger” to “very low food security.” In this report 

we have retained the labels current at the time of the research as they were used (in Spanish) in the research project 

in the Dominican Republic. 

2

 In the U.S., the “food insecure with hunger-severe” category was originally developed primarily to identify 

households in which children, as well as adults, were likely to have been hungry because of the household’s food 

insecurity. The category did not perform as expected for that purpose, and was dropped in favor of a measure of 

children’s food insecurity based on the child-referenced food security questions only. 

4
These methods are now accepted as a standard method of measuring household food insecurity 

in the United States (Bickel et al, 2000; Nord et al., 2007a). USDA has used them to monitor the 

food security of the nation’s households annually since 1995 (Hamilton et al., 1997a; Nord et al., 

2007a).The module and the classification methods, with some modifications, are also the 

standard for food security measurement in Canada (Health Canada, 2007). 

The U.S. methods have also been employed and tested by a number of researchers who studied 

the prevalence of food insecurity and hunger in the U.S. among various segments of the 

population including mother-headed families, children, the elderly, food-stamp recipients, ethnic 

minorities, recent immigrants, and other potentially vulnerable groups (Kasper et al., 2000; Polit 

et al., 2000; Himmelgreen et al., 2000; Derrickson et al., 2000). 

3. ADAPTATION AND QUALITATIVE TESTING OF THE SURVEY MODULE 

The Study Site 

Both qualitative testing and a pilot survey were conducted in a relatively poor community, Las 

Tablas, in the municipio of Bani in Peravia province in the DR. It is located at the Southwest part 

of the country, about 47 miles from the capital city, Santo Domingo (Figure 1). The community 

has 193 households and almost 900 people, with gender ratio near unity (453 female and 447 

male). Las Tablas was selected because: 1) It is very poor and rural, 2) has a clear demarcation 

for survey sampling, and 3) has a convenient transportation route for enumeration. 

Adaptation of the USFSSM 

Our interest was to adapt the USHFSSM for use in the culturally and economically distinct 

context of the DR. The questions in the USHFSSM as translated into Spanish by Harrison et al. 

(2003) for use in the United States were further modified, taking into consideration the colloquial 

Dominican Spanish to produce the DR Household Food Security Survey Module (DRHFSSM). 

The questions were then pre-tested in a focus group (Appendix A), and the results were 

incorporated into the final survey instrument (Appendix C). 

Although the Standard USHFSSM collects information referenced to the 12 month period prior 

to the survey, it can be adjusted for shorter reference periods (Bickel, et al, 2000). Since this 

5
study focused on populations that are prone to frequent and severe food insecurity, we used a 30 

day reference period and modified questions in the module accordingly. This included changing 

questions 8a, 12a and 14a, which ask how often conditions occurred, to accommodate the 30 day 

reference period. We also omitted the first level-preliminary screener questions since a large 

majority of the target population was expected to be food-insecure. 

Figure 1. Map of Dominican Republic. The Food Security Pilot Survey was conducted in 

Las Tablas. 

Las Tablas 

Qualitative assessment of the DRHFSSM

Ethnographic data obtained through the focus group discussion in Las Tablas complemented the 

FSSM-generated information and thereby enriched our understanding of how food insecure 

households in the DR manage and cope with actual and impending food problems. Although the 

DRHFSSM reflects the use of certain coping strategies, such as cutting down on the size of meal 

portions and switching to lower-cost food items, it obviously does not cover all conceivable and 

6
socially acceptable ways and tactics employed by families to deal with constraints that may lead 

to food deprivations (see, for example, Polit et al., 2000). As a result, our study sought to 

conduct in-depth interview/discussions with 110 randomly selected households in order to gain 

further insights into the nature of food problems they experience and the food management and 

coping strategies they use to avoid hunger and other forms of food insecurity. These included 

questions on overall life conditions in Las Tablas, such as economic and physical (source of 

income and employment status, importance of food items, transportations and market access, 

etc.). The qualitative study was therefore carried out in two steps: 

Step 1: We collected qualitative and ethnographic information in an exploratory exercise to 

better understand how households in the DR describe their food situations. This was carried out 

in a focus group format with in-depth and open-ended questions and discussions followed by 

discussion of each item in a semi-structured discussion format. Ten women selected by the two 

enumerators who are familiar with this community participated. 

Respondents were first provided a short (2 to 5 minutes) oral orientation on the purpose and the 

possible long term outcome of the survey. They were then given the opportunity to describe their 

own current and past food situations by taking not more than five minutes each. Interviewers 

asked questions to clarify the respondent reports. It was made clear to each of the respondents 

that the result of this survey would neither bring food nor money nor employment to the area in 

the near future. These and other necessary steps, including the training of the enumerators, were 

taken so as not to promise the respondents anything in order to engage them in the interview 

process (further information on the focus group is included in Appendix A). Each of the 

proposed food security questions was then read and discussed with the focus group in a semistructured format, with an enumerator and Co-Principal Investigator participating. 

Step 2: The results from Step 1 were used to make appropriate changes in the DRHFSSM 

questions. Wordings of the 18 food security scale questions were edited and compared with the 

corresponding Harrison et al version to fit the conditions, experiences, and household behaviors 

in coping with various levels of severity that typifies the DR households. 

7
The final food security questions administered in the Pilot Survey are shown in Appendix C. The 

food security questions of the DRHFSSM are compared with those developed by Harrison et al. 

(for use in Spanish speaking populations in the U.S.) in Appendix D. 

4. TESTING THE DRHFSSM IN A PILOT SURVEY 

The DRHFSSM was tested in a survey of 110 households, randomly selected to be representative 

of the community of Las Tablas, during the period September-December 2003. Additional 

questions on household demographics, food conditions, and economic conditions were also 

administered. 

 

Using a grid of three streets, families living in every other household were selected for interview. 

However, 10 to 14 additional households were included in the final sample at their request, 

because of their interest in the project. The basic characteristics of this community, as 

represented by the sample households, are summarized in table 1. Most of the households 

surveyed (93 percent) were families with children. Family size ranged from one to ten persons, 

and the typical family in the sample had four or five members. Four out of five households were 

headed by females. The majority of the respondents (61 percent) could read and write. Roughly 

half of the respondents had completed primary education but not secondary, while only 7.3 

percent had completed secondary. 

 Table 1: Selected Characteristics of the Study Sample (N=100 households) 

Characteristic Percent 

Mean Household Size 4.6 

Household Head, Female (%) 81.8 

Household Head, Illiteracy Rate (%) 39.1 

Household Head with Primary Education (%) 52.7 

Household Head with Secondary Educ. (%) 7.3 

 

Preliminary Food Security Assessment

Prior to the statistical assessment of internal validity, we examined responses to the individual 

questions in the DRHFSSM and conducted a preliminary examination of food security 

conditions in the sample using the coding and classification procedures that are used in the U.S. 

(Bickel et al., 2000). 

8
Table 2 presents the percentage of households affirming each of the standard questions in the 

DRHFSSM. Prior to describing these findings, a brief review of the nature and implications of 

these questions is in order. Three of the questions (Q2, Q3, and Q4) ask about the food situation 

of the entire household, seven (Q8-Q12a) about the experiences and behaviors of adults, and the 

remaining eight (Q5, Q6, Q7, and Q13-Q16) about conditions among children. (These latter are 

omitted for households with no children.) Three questions (Q8a, Q12a and Q14a) are follow-up 

queries that elicit information on the frequency of a previously reported behavior or condition. 

The survey questions were administered in three stages, the first stage serving as an internal 

screener to the next stage of questions.3

 Responses of “yes,” “often true,” or “sometimes true” 

were coded as affirmative responses as were reports of 3 or more days for the frequency-ofoccurrence follow-up questions. While the set of questions was used in combination to derive a 

measure of food security status, as sub-groups they were designed to capture four kinds of foodinsecurity situations or events. Affirmative responses to Q2 and Q3 would indicate an anxiety or 

perception that the household budget or food supply was inadequate. Affirmation of Q4, Q5, or 

Q6 indicates a perception that the food eaten by adults or children was inadequate in quality. 

Affirmation of any of Q8-Q12a indicates instances of reduced food intake, or consequences of 

reduced intake, for adults. Finally, instances of reduced food intake or its consequences for 

children are indicated by affirmation of Q7, or Q13-Q16 (Bickel et al., 2000, p. 24). 

The difference in the severity of conditions indicated by the questions in the DRHFSSM is seen 

in the summary responses (table 2). More than 85 percent of households affirmed questions 

indicating anxiety about food supply and indications of reduced quality/variety/desirability of 

diets. Questions indicating reduced food intake by adults were affirmed by 21 to 76 percent of 

households. Questions indicating reduced food intake by children (except for Q7, which is rather 

general) were affirmed by 10 to 67 percent of households. 

 

3

 Thus, respondents would be asked the second-stage questions if they affirmatively answered any one of the first 

stage questions. Likewise, stage 3 questions would be posed only to households who provided at least one 

affirmative response to questions in the second stage. 

9
Table 2: Household Food Security Items: Percentage of Affirmative Responses 

QN* In the last 30 days: Percent** 

Q2 Stage 1 Questions 

Worried whether food would run out. 86.4 

Q3 Food bought just didn’t last. 83.6 

Q4 Couldn’t afford to eat balanced meals. 92.7 

Q5 Relied on only a few kinds of low-cost food to feed the children. 88.2 

Q6 Couldn’t feed the children a balanced meal. 88.2 

Q7 Stage 2 Questions 

The children were not eating enough. 79.6 

Q8 Adult(s)s in the household cut size of meals or skipped meals. 75.5 

Q8a Adult(s) cut or skip meals, 3 or more days. 60.0 

Q9 Ate less than felt he or she should. 81.8 

Q10 Hungry but didn’t eat. 72.7 

Q11 Lost weight because there wasn’t enough food. 31.8 

Q12 Stage 3 Questions 

Adult(s) did not eat for a whole day. 20.9 

Q12a Adult(s) did not eat for whole day, 3 or more days. 19.1 

Q13 Cut size of child’s meals. 66.7 

Q14 Child skipped meals. 60.2 

Q14a Child skipped meals, 3 or more days. 46.2 

Q15 Child hungry but couldn’t afford more food. 61.3 

Q16 Child did not eat for a whole day. 9.7 

Notes: 

*QN denotes the serial number of the questions as they appear in the USHHFSM (Bickel et al., 2000). 

** Households without children were omitted from calculation of percentages for child-referenced questions. 

Using the U.S. classification standards, 7.3 percent of the surveyed households were food secure 

(figure 2). The 92.7 percent that were food insecure comprised 19.1 percent food insecure 

without hunger, 30.0 percent food insecure with hunger (moderate) and 43.6 percent food 

insecure with hunger (severe). 

10
Figure 2: Household Food Security Status

Secure 7.3%

Insecure: Without Hunger

19.1%

Insecure: Moderate Hunger 

30.0%

Insecure: Severe Hunger 

43.6% 

5. INTERNAL VALIDATION 

The internal validity of a multiple-indicator measure can be assessed by examining the 

interrelationships among the indicator items. Expected patterns of association among the 

indicators are derived from assumptions of the measurement model about the associations of the 

(observed) indicators with the (unobserved/latent) condition of interest. Consistency of inter-item 

associations with expected patterns is evidence that the item responses, when appropriately 

combined, are a valid measure of the unobserved latent condition. Experiential food security 

measures are generally assessed based on the Rasch measurement model. An overview of the 

Rasch model and the item parameters and item-fit statistics based on it are provided in Appendix 

B. 

Two food security scales were assessed, one based on adult items, the other on child items. 

Initial joint analysis of the adult and child items found that the child items were much less 

severe, relative to adult items, in the DR data than in the U.S. scale. That is, households were 

11
more likely to affirm child-referenced food security questions in the DR than were households in 

the U.S. that affirmed the same adult items. Thus, a scale based on the combined items would 

not, in any case, be comparable with the U.S. scale. Ongoing research in the U.S. has found that 

the relationship between reduced food intake of adults and children in the same household 

depends critically on the ages of children. The Data from the DRHFSSM also showed evidence 

of a moderately strong second dimension corresponding to adult verus child food security. The 

first factor in a principle components analysis of residuals after fitting the Rasch model to the 

combined adult and child items loaded positively on all adult items and negatively on all child 

items (analysis not shown).4 The eigenvalue of the first factor was 3.0. Because of this lack of 

item independence (which violates Rasch-model assumptions), combining the items in a single 

scale may be problematic, and in U.S. studies has been shown to bias comparisons of food 

insecurity between households with and without children, and among households with children 

of different ages. 

Adult Food Security Scale 

Ten adult items were fit to the single parameter of the Rasch model and the overall models fit as 

well as the fit of each item to the statistical model were assessed (table 3). Overall model fit was 

quite good. Average item discrimination was somewhat higher than in the U.S. CPS, as 

measured by the standard deviations of equivalent items in the two surveys. Average item 

discrimination is a measure of how consistently item responses are ordered. In general, we 

expect that if a household affirms an item they will affirm all less severe items, and if they deny 

an item, they will deny all more severe items. This is expected to be only probabilistically true. 

Average item discrimination is a measure of the extent to which it is true. Statistically, higher 

average item discrimination means a better model fit, in the sense that knowing raw score allows 

more accurate prediction of which items were affirmed. Practically, high average item 

discrimination indicates that questions were generally consistently understood and that responses 

 

4

 Factor analysis of standardized residuals is a common method for assessing item-response data for second and 

higher dimensions. The residual for each item by each respondent is calculated as the difference between the 

response (0 or 1) and the probability of an affirmative response. The residuals are then dividing by the expected 

standard deviation of residuals given the probability of an affirmative response to produce a standardized residual. 

The correlation matrix based on correlations among standardized residuals across respondents is then submitted to 

principle components analysis. Under the Rasch-model assumption of conditional independence, the correlations 

among the standardized residuals are all zero. The first factor in this analysis corresponds to a second dimension in 

the raw data, since the first dimension has been extracted by the fitted Rasch model. 

12
were thoughtful and were carefully coded by interviewers. It also indicates that the behaviors and 

conditions the questions ask about actually are fairly consistently ordered in the experience of the 

sampled population. 

Table 3. Estimated item severity parameters and fit statistics, Dominican Republic Adult Food Security Scale 

Item severity 

Dominican Republic 

Dominican 

Republic 

Item-fit statistics 

Item 

U.S. 

CPS 

Adjusted 

to U.S. 

CPS 

metric1

Logistic 

metric 

with 

mean of 

all item 

param. 

 = 10 Infit Outfit 

Q2. Worried food would run out 1.49 2.39 6.69 1.40 0.60 

Q3. Food bought was not sufficient 2.79 2.90 7.30 0.91 0.30 

Q4. Could not afford quality/variety of food wanted2 3.67 0.39 4.32 1.08 0.65 

Q8. Adult cut size of meal or skipped meal 5.37 4.12 8.75 0.92 0.72 

Q8a. Adult cut size of meal or skipped meal, 3+ days 6.42 5.98 10.95 1.26 2.87 

Q9. Adults ate less than they felt they should2 5.53 3.21 7.66 0.66 0.22 

Q10. Adults felt hungry but did not eat2 7.54 4.48 9.16 0.99 0.63 

Q11. Adult lost weight 8.61 8.52 13.96 1.28 0.96 

Q12. Adult did not eat for whole day 9.12 9.78 15.45 0.59 0.39 

Q12a. Adult did not eat for whole day, 3+ days 9.93 10.05 15.77 0.62 0.45 

Equivalent items in DR and U.S. scales 

 Mean 6.250 6.250 11.265 

 Standard deviation 2.996 2.996 3.549 

Discrimination 1.000 1.185 1.000 

All items 

 Mean 10.000 

 Standard deviation 3.713 

Notes: 

1 Metric was adjusted to that of U.S. CPS in order to compare relative item severities and average item 

discrimination. Adjustment consisted of a linear transformation of the DR item parameters calculated to equate the 

mean and standard deviation of the equivalent items in the two scales. 

2

 These items were excluded from metric adjustment set because they were not considered equivalent in meaning to 

corresponding items in the U.S. scale 

Source: Calculated by ERS based on data from the Dominican Republic Food Security Pilot Survey. 

Item-infit statistics were quite good (near unity) for most items, indicating that they measure a 

common phenomenon and do so with approximately equal sensitivity. The Rasch model assumes 

that all items discriminate equally. Under this assumption, all infit and outfit statistics would be 

13
1.00.5

 However, a range of 0.8 to 1.2 is generally considered to be quite good. The infit was 

somewhat high for Q2 (worried food would run out) and to a lesser extent Q11 (adult lost 

weight) and Q8a (adult cut size of meal or skipped meal, 3+ days). Outfit was also high for Q8a, 

which may suggest that this item is less consistently related to food insecurity than the other 

items and could distort the scale. We do not recommend dropping any of these items at this 

stage, since this preliminary assessment is based on a rather small sample. It may be worthwhile 

to investigate dichotomizing Q8a at a different number of days (perhaps 4+ days rather than 3+). 

Prior to further use of the DRHFSSM, further cognitive testing of Q2 and Q11 should be 

conducted to improve consistency of understanding.6 

It is worth noting that both infit and outfit were quite low for Q9 (Adult ate less than they felt 

they should). This indicates unusually high discrimination and suggests that the content of this 

item is, to a great extent, the character of the phenomenon measured by the item set. It is not 

problematic to include such an “overfitting” item in the scale, but the information it could 

contribute is somewhat undervalued by the unweighted raw score. 

Dimensionality of the adult-referenced items was assessed using the standard procedure of 

principal components factor analysis of the item-household residuals from the Rasch model, 

normalized by expected variance. The two “how often did this occur” follow-up questions were 

omitted for this analysis, since their statistical dependence on their base items distorts the factor 

analysis. There was no evidence of any strong second factor. This analysis verifies the Rasch 

model assumption of conditional independence of items—that is, that item responses are 

uncorrelated except for their common association with food insecurity. 

The severity parameters of the items in the DR adult food security scale were compared with 

those of corresponding items in the U.S. scale (figure 3). The comparison was intended primarily 

to assess the comparability of measured severity levels and prevalence statistics between the two 

 

5

 This assumption, along with others, is required to assure that raw score is an ordinal measure of the severity of 

food insecurity and that each raw score maps to a unique household scale score irregardless of which specific items 

are affirmed to achieve the raw score. See appendix B for a description of these item-fit statistics. 6

 Q11, regarding losing weight, has proven problematic in several vulnerable populations in Latin America and was 

omitted from the final set of questions recommended in the Escala Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Seguridad 

Alimentaria. 

14
countries. The reliability of the Dominican scale does not depend on the items having similar 

relative item severities to their counterparts in the U.S. scale. To make this comparison, the 

metric of the Dominican scale was adjusted to that of the U.S. scale by applying a linear 

transformation to the estimated item parameters so as to equate the mean and standard deviation 

of items considered equivalent between the two scales.7

 Initially, Q4 (could not afford 

quality/variety of food wanted) was omitted from the set of items considered equivalent for this 

purpose since the content of the item differed considerably from that of the corresponding item 

in the U.S. scale (“We couldn’t afford to eat balanced meals.) In fact, the Dominican item was 

much less severe than the U.S. balanced meals item. That is, the Dominican item is much more 

likely to be affirmed than the U.S. item by households with the same responses to other items. 

Two other items, Q9 (adults ate less than they felt they should) and Q10 (adult felt hungry but 

did not eat) also appear to be less severe in the Dominican scale than in the U.S. scale. This 

could be because the translated questions refer to somewhat different objective conditions, or 

because the objective conditions tend to be ordered differently in the two countries. For purposes 

of the present comparison, these two items also were omitted from the set of items considered 

equivalent. The relative severities of the remaining items were quite similar between the two 

scales. The lower severity of several items in the DR scale will bias estimated prevalence rates of 

food insecurity and food insecurity with hunger upward somewhat relative to the prevalence of 

these conditions in the U.S. The extent of the biases will be explored after examining the 

household measures based on the scale. 

An additional question, Q12B (Which of these best describes the number of meals each day you 

and your family have eaten during the last 4 weeks, once a day, twice a day, three times a day?), 

was tested in the pilot survey as a candidate for the DR food security scale. After assessment, 

however, it was decided not to include it in the scale at this time. The estimated parameter of the 

lower-severity coding of the item (eating less than 3 times a day) placed it in a range of severity 

that is well covered by other items. The more severe coding (eating only once a day) had a 

 

7

 Rasch scales are interval, but not ratio measures, so the zero point is arbitrary, and the additive constant in the 

linear transformation simply adjusts the zero point of the scale. The multiplicative constant in the linear 

transformation does, however, contain meaningful information, as it registers differences in the average item 

discrimination in the two models. The linear transformation to equate mean and standard deviation of items that are 

considered to be equivalent in two scales allows comparison of relative item severity and average item 

discrimination separately. 

15
somewhat weak item-infit statistic (infit 1.27) and would not strengthen the scale appreciably. 

The item may be considered promising enough to test it in a further survey, however. 

Equal score 

Item

Item parameter (severity), US CPS 

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

8 

6 

4 

2 

0 

Balanced meal

Worried

Food ran out Ate less

Cut/skipped meal

Cut/skipped, 3+

Hungry

Figure 3. Comparison of item parameters (severities) on adult food 

security scale, DR food security pilot survey versus US CPS-FSS

Whole day

12 Item parameter, DR 

10 Whole day, 3+

Lost weight

Household scale scores (levels of severity of food insecurity) corresponding to each raw score on 

the adult food security scale are presented in table 4. These are based on item parameters on the 

logistic metric (i.e., with discrimination parameter equal to 1) and mean 10 from table 3. Table 4 

also specifies food security status categories for each raw score that are roughly comparable with 

categories specified on the U.S. household food security scale. These categories should be 

considered only illustrative, however. Ranges of food insecurity and language to describe them 

for use in the Dominican Republic should be established by experts in the country taking into 

account official definitions, popular and professional understanding of terms, and policy 

purposes for the measure and statistics based upon it. 

16
Table 4. Food security scale scores (levels of severity of food insecurity) on the Dominican Republic Adult Food 

Security Scale, and distribution of households in the survey sample by severity of food insecurity 

Household scale 

score 

Percentage of 

Raw score households 

(number of foodinsecure conditions 

reported) Score 

Meas. 

error 

In rawscore 

group 

Cumula

tive 

Food security status 

(For illustrative purposes only, 

roughly equivalent to U.S. 

categories)2

 01 NA NA 5.45 5.45 Fully food secure3

1 4.97 1.37 2.73 8.18 Marginally food secure3

2 6.42 1.07 4.55 12.73 Marginally food secure3

3 7.43 0.96 4.55 17.27 Food insecure without hunger 

4 8.34 0.96 5.45 22.73 Food insecure without hunger 

5 9.31 1.03 10.91 33.64 Food insecure without hunger 

6 10.56 1.22 5.45 39.09 Food insecure with hunger-moderate 

7 12.44 1.49 27.27 66.36 Food insecure with hunger-moderate 

8 14.35 1.26 14.55 80.91 Food insecure with hunger-moderate 

9 15.89 1.28 8.18 89.09 Food insecure with hunger-severe 

101 16.87 1.59 10.91 100.00 Food insecure with hunger-severe 

Notes: 

1 Household scale scores cannot be calculated precisely for households that affirm no items or for households that 

affirm all valid items. When using scale scores in linear models, appropriate account must be taken of the 

uncertainty with respect to household scale scores of households that affirmed no items. The scale scores presented 

here for households affirming all 10 items is an approximation based on a hypothetical case of affirming 9.5 items. 

For most purposes, households with this score could be used in linear models without introducing serious distortions 

because the proportion of households with this score is small. 2 The food security categories specified here are for illustrative purposes only. They are roughly comparable with 

categories specified on the U.S. household food security scale. Ranges of food insecurity and language to describe 

them for use in the Dominican Republic should be established by experts in the country taking into account official 

definitions, popular and professional understanding of terms, and policy purposes for the measure and statistics 

based upon it. 

3 The fully food secure and marginally food secure categories are not disaggregated in the official U.S. Government 

reports, but they have been distinguished for some analytic research applications. 

Source: Calculated by the authors based on data from the Dominican Republic Food Security Pilot Survey. 

The measured range of the DR Adult Food Security Scale extends from 4.97 to 15.89, a total of 

10.92 logistic units. (Technically, the scale score for raw score 10 cannot be computed without 

additional assumptions about the distribution of food insecurity in the population. The value 

presented in the table is an approximation.) Measurement error across most of the measured 

range is about 1.0 to 1.5 units. Thus, at least three categories can be identified with reasonable 

reliability. 

Based on the illustrative categories specified in table 4, 12.7 percent of households in this 

economically vulnerable sample were food secure (although this included 7.3 percent that were 

17
only marginally secure). 87.3 Percent were food insecure, including 20.9 percent food insecure 

without hunger and 66.4 percent food insecure with hunger. The latter category can be further 

disaggregated as 47.3 percent food insecure with hunger (moderate) and 9.1 percent food 

insecure with hunger (severe). 

If the assumptions of item equivalency in table 3 and figure 3 are correct, the prevalence of both 

food insecurity and food insecurity with hunger will be overestimated somewhat in the DR 

compared with the U.S. The extent of the overestimate of food insecurity would be some 

substantial proportion of the households with raw score 3—about 4.5 percent of households. 

Similarly the extent of the overestimate of food insecurity with hunger may be a substantial 

proportion of the percentage of households with raw score 6—about 5.4 percent of households. 

Children’s Food Security Scale8

In general, the child-referenced items fit the measurement model assumptions reasonably well 

(table 5). However, only 42 of the 93 households with children could be used for the scaling 

analysis after excluding “extreme” response patterns—those those in which the household 

affirmed no child items (10.75 percent) or affirmed all valid child items (9.68 percent). 

Therefore, item parameters are not estimated very precisely and item-fit statistics may be 

elevated substantially by just a single uncharacteristic response. Average item discrimination was 

substantially higher than in the U.S. CPS, suggesting that questions were understood consistently 

and answered thoughtfully and that responses were carefully recorded. Outfit was high for Q7 

(children were not eating enough), and infit was also slightly high for this item. Further cognitive 

testing of this item is recommended. 

Estimated item parameters were quite similar to those of corresponding items in the U.S. scale 

with two exceptions. Q6 (could not give children good quality meals) was not expected to be 

exactly equivalent to the corresponding U.S. question (couldn’t feed children a balanced meal) 

and was, in fact, somewhat less severe. The most striking difference was the very high severity 

 

8

 In the DR survey, persons age 0 to 14 years were considered children. In U.S. food security analyses, those ages 

15-17 years are also considered children. 

18
of Q16 (children did not eat for a whole day).9

 As discussed above, inadvertent change of 

reference (“the children” rather than “any of the children”) in translation may be partly 

responsible for this, but the item is so much more severe than its U.S. counterpart that the change 

of reference is unlikely to be the only factor. It would be premature to drop the item based on 

only this preliminary survey. If further research confirms this high severity relative to other 

items, consideration should be given to dropping it from the scale. It added no food security 

classification information in this survey, although it did identify households with unusually 

severe levels of food insecurity with hunger among children. 

Household scale scores (levels of severity of food insecurity) on the children’s food security 

scale are presented in table 6. As in the case of the adult scale, the categorical specifications and 

labels should be considered illustrative only. Based on these illustrative categories, children were 

food secure in 10.75 percent of households with children. Children were food insecure in 89.25 

percent, including 62.37 percent food insecure with hunger among children. Of particular note, 

43 percent had raw scores of 7 or 8 on the children’s scale, indicating quite a severe level of food 

insecurity among children. 

 

9

 All households that affirmed Q16 also affirmed all other child-referenced items. This makes it impossible to 

include the item in the scaling analysis along with just the other 7 child-referenced items. To approximate the 

parameter of Q16, we scaled the 8 child items jointly with the 10 adult and household items. The relative scores of 

other child items differed little between the two scaling scenarios (i.e., scaled jointly with the adult items compared 

with scaled with only the 7 non-extreme child items), so the true severity level of Q16 is not likely to differ greatly 

from that shown in table 4. 

19
Table 5. Item severity parameters and fit statistics, Dominican Republic Children’s Food Security Scale 

Item severity 

Dominican Republic 

Dominican 

Republic 

Item-fit statistics 

Item 

U.S. 

CPS 

Adjusted 

to U.S. 

CPS 

metric1

Logistic 

metric 

with 

mean of 

all item 

param. 

 = 10 Infit Outfit 

Q5. Children had to eat few kinds of low-cost foods 3.27 3.78 5.44 0.94 0.18 

Q6. Could not give children good quality meals2 5.04 3.78 5.44 1.19 1.45 

Q7. Children were not eating enough 6.66 6.38 8.65 1.21 2.67 

Q13. Cut size of child’s meal 8.79 8.32 11.04 0.70 0.48 

Q14. Skipped child’s meal 9.94 9.25 12.20 0.60 0.35 

4a. Skipped child’s meal, 3+ days 10.63 11.70 15.22 1.24 0.92 

Q15. Child hungry, could not give more food 9.24 9.09 12.00 1.13 0.96 

Q16. Children did not eat for whole day2,3 11.94 18.06 23.12 1.13 0.53 

Equivalent items in DR and U.S. scales 

 Mean 8.087 8.087 10.760 

 Standard deviation 2.482 2.482 3.064 

Discrimination 1.000 1.235 1.000 

All items 

 Mean 10.000 

 Standard deviation 3.393 

Notes: 

1 Metric was adjusted to that of U.S. CPS in order to compare relative item severities and average item 

discrimination. Adjustment consisted of a linear transformation of the DR item parameters calculated to equate the 

mean and standard deviation of the equivalent items in the two scales. 

2

 These items were excluded from metric adjustment set because they were not considered equivalent in meaning to 

corresponding items in the U.S. scale. 3

 All households that affirmed Q16 also affirmed all other child items. Its response pattern is, therefore, “extreme,” 

and the item could not be scaled with the only the other child items. Its item severity parameter and fit statistics were 

estimated based on scaling the child items jointly with the adult-household items and should be considered only an 

approximation. The true item-fit statistics for Q16 are also probably larger than the tabled values, since average item 

discrimination of the combined adult and child items was lower than that of the child items scaled separately. 

Source: Calculated by ERS based on data from the Dominican Republic Food Security Pilot Survey. 

The food security of adults and children in the same household are strongly related (table 7). Of 

households classified as food insecure with hunger among children, 93 percent also registered 

hunger among adults. Children appear to be affected quite strongly by household-level food 

access problems in this sample. Among households that were food insecure with hunger among 

adults, 84 percent also registered hunger among children. Considering conditions among both 

adults and children, 87 households out of the 93 with children (93.5 percent) were food insecure, 

20
and in 68 (73.1 percent), either adults or children or both were hungry at times because the 

household could not afford enough food. 

Table 6. Food security scale scores (levels of severity of food insecurity) on the Dominican Republic Children’s 

Food Security Scale, and distribution of households in the survey sample by severity of food insecurity 

Household scale 

score 

Percentage of 

households 

(n=93) 

Raw score (number of foodinsecure conditions 

reported) Score 

Meas. 

error 

In rawscore 

group 

Cumul

ative 

Food security status 

(For illustrative purposes only, 

roughly equivalent to U.S. 

categories)2

 01 NA NA 10.75 10.75 

1 5.36 1.36 0.00 10.75 Children food secure3

2 7.36 1.52 6.45 17.20 

3 9.53 1.38 12.90 30.11 

4 11.12 1.16 7.53 37.63 

Children food insecure without 

hunger3

5 12.43 1.18 8.60 46.24 

6 14.20 1.52 10.75 56.99 

7 19.22 5.06 33.33 90.32 

81 23.12 2.00 9.68 100.00 

Food insecure with hunger among 

children 

Notes: 

1 Household scale scores cannot be calculated precisely for households that affirm no items or for households that 

affirm all valid items. When using scale scores in linear models, appropriate account must be taken of the 

uncertainty with respect to household scale scores of these households. The scale scores presented here for 

households affirming all 8 items is an approximation based on a hypothetical case of affirming 7.5 items. For most 

purposes, households with this score could be used in linear models without introducing serious distortions because 

the proportion of households with this score is small. 

2 The food security categories specified here are for illustrative purposes only. They are roughly comparable with 

categories specified on the U.S. household food security scale. Ranges of food insecurity and language to describe 

them for use in the Dominican Republic should be established by experts in the country taking into account official 

definitions, popular and professional understanding of terms, and policy purposes for the measure and statistics 

based upon it. 

3 The food secure and food insecure without hunger categories for children are not disaggregated in the official U.S. 

Government reports, but they have been distinguished for analytic purposes in some research applications. 

Source: Calculated by ERS based on data from the Dominican Republic Food Security Pilot Survey. 

21
Table 7. Crosstabulation of food security status1

 of adults and children in households with children in the Dominican 

Republic Food Security Pilot Survey 

Number of households Chilren’s food security status 

Percent of all households with child 

Percent of row total 

Percent of column total 

Children food 

secure2

Food insecure, no 

hunger among 

children2

Food insecure 

with hunger 

among children Total 

6 6 0 12 

6.45 6.45 0.00 12.90 

50.00 50.00 0.00 Adults food secure 

60.00 24.00 0.00 

3 10 4 17 

3.23 10.75 4.30 18.28 

17.65 58.82 23.53 

Food insecure, no 

hunger among 

adults 30.00 40.00 6.90 

1 9 54 64 

1.08 9.68 58.06 68.82 

1.56 14.06 84.38 

Food insecure with 

hunger among 

adults 10.00 36.00 93.10 

10 25 58 93 

Adults’ food 

security status 

Total 10.75 26.88 62.37 100.00 

Notes: 

1 These food security categories are for illustrative purposes only. They are roughly comparable with categories 

specified on the U.S. household food security scale. Ranges of food insecurity and language to describe them for use 

in the Dominican Republic should be established by experts in the country taking into account official definitions, 

popular and professional understanding of terms, and policy purposes for the measure and statistics based upon it. 2 The food secure food insecure without hunger categories are not disaggregated in the official U.S. Government 

reports, but they have been distinguished for analytic purposes in some research applications. 

Source: Calculated by ERS based on data from the Dominican Republic Food Security Pilot Survey. 

Cross tabulation of the DR Children’s Food Security Scale by the 18-item combined scale (not 

shown) confirmed that the “food insecure with hunger (severe)” category on the latter does not 

provide a reliable proxy for food insecurity with hunger among children. About 19 percent of 

households that were classified as food insecure with hunger among children based on the 

Children’s Food Security Scale would be classified as food insecure with hunger (moderate) 

based on the 18-item scale using U.S. classification specifications. Thus, if a combined adultchild scale is to be used in the Dominican Republic, it will not be appropriate to use the U.S. 

specifications of the “food insecure with hunger (severe)” category as a proxy for food insecurity 

with hunger among children.10 Rather, a single threshold will need to be specified that identifies 

“food insecurity with hunger among adults or children,” since the level of severity of food 

 

10 This category is no longer used in the U.S. Rather the Children’s Food Security Scale is used to identify food 

insecurity with hunger among children—described since 2006 as “very low food security among children (Nord and 

Bickel, 2002). 

22
insecurity in the household at which indications of hunger are observed appears to be about the 

same for children as for adults. 

6. Construct Validation 

The construct validity of a food security measure is assessed by examining its association with 

conditions that are known (or expected) to be either causes or consequences of food insecurity or 

measures of closely related conditions.11 For most of the construct validation we used the 18-

item (combined adult-child) scale because the analyses were conducted prior to the internal 

validation analyses. The scales are strongly correlated, so the construct validation analyses are 

not substantially affected by this decision. 

Larger households generally need more resources to meet household needs and are expected to 

be more food insecure. In the pilot sample, larger households were more likely to be food 

insecure with severe hunger. However, the prevalence of food insecurity overall and food 

insecurity with hunger did not differ greatly between large and small households. Households 

with more highly educated adults were more likely to be food secure and considerably less likely 

to be food insecure with hunger, especially with severe hunger (table 8). 

 Table 8: Food Security Status by Household (HH) Attributes 

HH Members* Education Degree of Food Sufficiency 

Food Security Status 

Full 

Sample 1-4 5 -10 Illiterate Primary Secondary Food Sufficient Food Insufficient 

 Secure 7.3 7.0 7.5 0.0 12.1 12.5 36.4 0 

 Insecure 92.7 93.0 92.5 100.0 88.0 87.5 63.6 100 

 without hunger 19.1 19.3 18.9 16.3 19.0 37.5 59.1 9.1 

 with moderate hunger 30.0 35.1 24.5 27.9 32.8 12.5 4.5 36.4 

 with severe hunger 43.6 38.6 49.1 55.8 36.2 37.5 0 54.5 

Sample Size** 110 57 53 43 58 8 22 88 

Notes: 

* The cutoff for household size is based on the mean size, which is about 5 members. 

** Figures are in percentages except sample size. The sum of observations for the “Education” 

column is 109 due to one missing observation. 

 

11 Another common form of validation, “criterion validity” compares the measure with a known “gold standard.” 

Criterion validation is not generally feasible for food security measures, since food security is a latent trait and not, 

in a practical sense, directly observable. 

23
A single-question assessment of food insufficiency was administered just prior to the food 

security scale questions. Respondents were categorized as food insufficient if they reported that 

they “sometimes” or “often” did not have enough to eat. Eighty percent of survey respondents 

were food insufficient, and this condition was strongly associated with the more severe range of 

food insecurity. The prevalence of food insecurity with hunger was 91% among food-insufficient 

households compared with 4.5% among those that were food sufficient. 

Children’s food security was not associated, or was only very weakly associated, with household 

size (table 9). Children’s food security was, however, associated with education of adults in the 

household similarly to food security as measured by the 18-item scale. 

 Table 9: Children’s Food Security Status by Household (HH) Attributes 

HH 

Members 

Education 

Children’s Food Security Status 

Sample of 

HHs with 

Children 1-4 5 -10 Illiterate Primary Secondary 

Secure 10.8 10.0 11.3 5.7 11.8 28.6 

Insecure 89.2 90.0 88.7 94.3 88.2 71.4 

 Insecure without hunger 26.9 25.0 28.3 14.3 35.3 28.6 

 Insecure with hunger 62.4 65.0 60.4 80.0 52.9 42.9 

 Sample Size 93 40 53 35 51 7 

We expected that households living farther from markets (and generally in more remote 

locations) would be more food insecure. In the pilot survey, distance to the market where 

households bought food was self-defined as very near, near, far, or very far. Households living 

far or very far from markets were more likely to be food insecure, food insecure with hunger 

(including both moderate and severe), and food insecure with severe hunger than were 

households living near or very near markets (table 15). 

Households with employed members were more likely to be food secure and less likely to be 

food insecure with severe hunger than households with no employed adults. Among families 

with employed adults, those engaged in the service sector and in other nonagricultural activities 

24
appear to be more food secure than those engaged in agricultural, although the sample sizes are 

too small to draw definitive conclusions. 

Table 15: Food Security by Employment Status and Other Dimensions 

Distance 

To Buy(18)

Employment 

Status Type of Work 

Women’s 

Contribution 

Self assessed current 

level of livelihood 

Category 

and 

Outcome 

Full 

Sample Near Far Empd 

Not 

Employed Agr. Nonag. Serv. Yes No 

Good or 

very 

good 

Not very 

good or not 

good at all 

 Secure 8 11.4 0.0 14.0 3.0 0.0 16.7 21.4 14.8 4.8 15.8 2.8 

 Insec., w/o 

hunger 21 

18.6 21.6 14.0 22.4 8.3 11.1 21.4 14.8 20.5 21.1 18.1 

 Moderate 

hunger 33 

32.9 27.0 37.2 25.4 41.7 38.9 28.6 37.0 27.7 26.3 31.9 

 Severe 

hunger 48 

37.1 51.4 34.9 49.3 50.0 33.3 28.6 33.3 47.0 36.8 47.2 

Sample 

Size* 110 

70 37 43 67 12 18 14 27 83 38 72 

Notes: 

All figures except sample size are percentages. The aggregate sample size for “Distance To Buy” is 107 because of 

3 missing responses. Four alternative responses about distance to where purchases are made were collapsed into 

“Near” (including “near” and “very near”), and “Far” (including “far” and “very far”). 

The probability of being food secure was substantially higher among households in which 

women contributed to family income than among families where women were not reported to 

have generated income.12 Households in which women contributed to family income also 

experienced severe hunger at a lower rate. 

Respondents were asked a general question about satisfaction with their current level of 

livelihood. Those who felt good or very good about their current level of livelihood were more 

likely to be food secure and less likely to be food insecure with severe hunger than those who felt 

their current level of livelihood was not very good or not good at all. 

7. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 

The adapted DRHFSSM appears to perform well as a measure of household food insecurity. 

Qualitative evidence from focus groups confirmed the relevance of the behaviors and conditions 

 

12 Although most households were headed by women, many depended entirely on earnings sent by male members 

who worked (and lived most of the time) in other parts of the country. 

25
elicited by the module as indicators of food access difficulties. The pilot survey of an 

economically vulnerable sample of 110 households in the Las Tablas community confirmed the 

practicality of administration. Internal validity of the set of items derived from the response data 

was acceptable, although two of the questions should be explored further in focus groups or 

cognitive interviewing to improve them prior to widespread use. 

Comparison of the severity of items in the DRHFSSM with equivalent items in the USHFSSM 

indicates that the two modules measure essentially the same phenomenon in their respective 

countries. The levels of severity of food insecurity indicated by raw scores are approximately 

equivalent for the two modules. 

Based on the evidence from food security measurement in the U.S. and the evidence of separate 

adult and child dimensions in the pilot survey response data, separate scales to measure adult and 

child food insecurity are recommended for future use. The relationship between the food 

insecurity of adults and children in the same household is likely to be contingent on the ages of 

children. The adult scale provides a measure that is fully comparable between households with 

and without children and across households with children of different ages. For some purposes, 

the adult scale alone may serve for many monitoring and research purposes, making it 

unnecessary to collect the child items, which may be more sensitive. 

Further construct validation is recommended when data from a larger, more widely 

representative survey is available. Of particular value would be separate construct validation of 

the adult and child scales against measures of food intake and nutritional status. 

The descriptive results of the pilot survey indicated a very high prevalence of food insecurity in 

the Las Tablas community. Seventy-six percent of the respondent households had food insecurity 

with hunger among adults (during the 30 days prior to the survey) and 72 percent had food 

insecurity with hunger among children. Although these results are from a small sample in an area 

known to be economically vulnerable, the high prevalence of food insecurity suggests the 

relevance and importance of measuring food security in the Dominican Republic.

26
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Derrickson, Joda P., Anne G. Fisher, and Jennifer E.L. Anderson. 2000. “The Core Food 

Security Module Scale Measure Is Valid and Reliable When Used with Asians and 

Pacific Islanders,” Journal of Nutrition 130: 2666-2674. 

Fischer, Gerhard H., and Ivo W. Molenaar, eds. 1995. Rasch Models: Foundations, Recent 

Developments, and Applications. New York: Springer-Verlag. 

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Frongillo, Edward A., and Simeon Nanama. 2006. “Development and Validation of an 

Experience –Based Measure of Household Food Insecurity within and across Seasons in 

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Series -No.17, UNESCO, NY, NY. 

Hambleton, Ronald K., H. Swaminathan, and H. Jane Rogers. 1991. Fundamentals of Item 

Response Theory. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. 

Hamilton, William L., John T. Cook, William W. Thompson, Lawrence F. Buron, Edward A. 

Frongillo, Jr., Christine M. Olson, and Cheryl A. Wehler. 1997a. Household Food 

Security in the United States in 1995: Summary Report of the Food Security 

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Hamilton, William L., John T. Cook, William W. Thompson, Lawrence F. Buron, Edward A. 

Frongillo, Jr., Christine M. Olson, and Cheryl A. Wehler. 1997b. Household Food 

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www.fns.usda.gov/oane/menu/published/foodsecurity/tech_rpt.pdf 

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of a Spanish-Language Version of the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module,” 

Journal of Nutrition 133:1192-1197. 

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2000. “Food Insecurity Among Low-Income Hispanics in Hartford, Connecticut: 

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Measurement Transactions 8(3):370. Available: http://www.rasch.org/rmt/rmt83.htm 

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Filipinas D. Gerardo, and Christopher Dunford. 2006. “Household Food Insecurity and 

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Nutrition Review 15(1): 33-46. Available: 

http://www.usda.gov/cnpp/FENR/FENRv15n1/index.html 

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Scales Using Simulated Data,” paper presented at Annual Meeting of the American 

Agricultural Economics Association, Long Beach, CA, July 23-26, 2006. 

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Service. Available: http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err49

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Métodos Estandarizados para Medir la Inseguridad Alimentaria del Hogar en América 

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Separata, Octubre 2007: Memorias 1a Conferencia en América Latina y el Caribe sobre 

la medición de la seguridad alimentaria en el hogar; Junio 8, 9 y 10 de 2007, Carmen de 

Viboral, Antioquia, Colombia. 

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Melgar-Quiñonez (eds.). 2007. Perspectivas en Nutrición Humana, Separata, Octubre 

2007: Memorias 1a Conferencia en América Latina y el Caribe sobre la medición de la 

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Available: www.rasch.org/memos.htm

30
Appendix A: Focus Group

The first stage of adapting the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module (USHFSSM) for 

use in the Dominican Republic was to conduct a focus group to collect qualitative and 

ethnographic information on how households in the Dominican Republic describe their food 

situations. The focus group results were used to modify and adapt the questions in the survey 

module. 

A focus group was organized and carried out on December 12, 2002 in Las Tablas, Bani, the 

community selected for the pilot survey. Preparatory to the focus group, several meetings took 

place with the social leader of the community. She was provided with all the relevant 

information including who was to conduct the survey, its overall purpose, and the time it would 

take to complete. She in turn provided general information about the residents of Las Tablas and 

their food situations. She was very open and her assessments of general food conditions were 

confirmed by subsequent findings of the study. For example, she indicated that the food situation 

was very bad in the area, and that many people suffer from hunger because they have neither 

permanent jobs nor good land to produce their own food. She provided important assistance in 

organizing the focus group. 

Ten people from the community were selected for the focus group. All were women between 24 

and 38 years old, most of them were household heads. Only 4 of them could read and write; all 

of them were born in the area. 

A total of 15 people met at the focus group: 10 women from the community, 4 enumerators (2 

women and 2 men) and one of the Co-Principal Investigators. The process at the focus group 

started as a very open and informal conversation about their food situation. All the participants 

were very open, probably because they were well acquainted with the two women enumerators. 

All women, except one said that they always feel food insecure. They feel they do not eat enough 

food every day and usually eat only twice a day. They usually buy low quality food for their 

children because they do not have enough money to buy high quality and adequate food for 

them. 

31
After the conversation, the Co-Principal Investigator and the enumerators applied the survey to 

each participant. At the same time the instrument was being applied notes were taken which were 

later used to adjust and modify the instrument. This resulted in the final survey instrument, 

which was implemented in the pilot survey in Las Tablas. 

32
Appendix B: The Rasch Model in Food Security Measurement: Basic Concepts, 

Parameters, and Statistics 

The Rasch measurement model provides a set of analytic tools to assess the suitability of a set of 

survey items for scale construction, to create a scale from the items, and to compare performance 

of the set of items in various populations and survey contexts. This appendix presents basic 

concepts and mathematics underlying the Rasch model and describes the model parameters and 

item-fit statistics commonly used to assess food security survey data. More detailed information 

on the Rasch model is available in Bond and Fox (2001), Fischer and Molenar (1995), Baker 

(1992), Hambleton et al. (1991), and Wright (1977; 1983). Information about applications of 

Rasch methods to the development and assessment of food security scales is available in 

Hamilton et al. (1997a; 1997b), Bickel et al. (2000); Nord and Bickel (2002), Nord (2002); and 

Nord (2003). A Spanish-language overview of the Rasch-based statistical methods as applied to 

food security measurement is available in Nord et al. (2007b; see especially the appendix). 

Basic Concepts: Item Severity and Household Severity 

An essential characteristic of the food security scale is that the items comprising it vary across a 

wide range of severity of food insecurity. The precise severity level of each item (the “item 

severity parameter,” discussed below) is estimated empirically from the overall pattern of 

responses to the scale items by the interviewed households. However, the range of severity of the 

conditions identified by the items is also intuitively evident from inspection of the items. For 

example, the item, children did not eat for a whole day, is a more severe manifestation of food 

insecurity than is the item, adults cut the size of meals or skipped meals, and the latter indicates a 

more severe level of food insecurity than does the item, worried whether food would run out 

before we got money to buy more. These differences in severity are observed in the response 

patterns of surveyed households. The more severe items are less frequently affirmed than less 

severe items. Moreover, a household that affirms a specific item is likely to have also affirmed 

all items that are less severe. Similarly, a household that denies a specific item is likely to deny 

all items that are more severe. These typical response patterns are not universal, but they are 

predominant, and the extent of deviation tends to be small. 

33
In essence, the Rasch model (named for the Danish Mathematician, Georg Rasch) formalizes this 

concept of the severity-ordering of items and provides standard statistical methods to estimate 

the relative severity of each item and to assess the extent to which the response patterns observed 

in a data set are consistent with the severity-order concept. The Rasch model was developed 

primarily in the educational testing field, where multiple correct/incorrect items, varying in 

difficulty, are used to measure an individual’s level of knowledge or skill. More generally, the 

model can be used to assess the location of an individual or household along a continuum—in 

the present case, a continuum of the severity of deprivation in the basic need for food—by 

combining information from multiple dichotomous (yes/no) items that vary as to the point on the 

continuum that each one uniquely reflects. 

Mathematics of the Rasch Model 

Rasch-model assessment statistics are based on the assumption that both the indicator items 

making up the scale and the households responding to the items can be located on the same 

underlying, unobserved continuum of severity of food insecurity. A further assumption is that the 

probability of a specific household affirming a specific item depends on the difference between 

the severity levels of the household and the item. The single-parameter Rasch model, which is 

used to create the food security scale, assumes specifically that the log of the odds of a household 

affirming an item is proportional to the difference between the “true” severity level of the 

household and the “true” severity level of the item. Thus, the odds that a household at severitylevel h will affirm an item at severity-level i is: 

(1) Ph,i/(1-Ph,i)=e(h-i)

where P is the probability of affirming the item and e is the base of the natural logarithms. 

Solving equation (1) for Ph,i, the probability that the household will affirm the item can be 

expressed as: 

(2) Ph,i =e

(h-i)

/(1+e

(h-i)

)

34
The severity of an item, then, can be thought of as the severity level of households that are just at 

the threshold of affirming or denying that item. The odds that a household will affirm an item 

right at the severity level of the household is 1, corresponding to a probability of 0.5. The odds 

that a household will affirm an item with a severity parameter one unit lower than that of the 

household is e

1

, or about 2.7, corresponding to a probability of 0.73 [i.e., 2.7/(1+2.7)]. The 

probability that the household will affirm an item two units lower than its own severity measure 

is 0.88, and for an item three units lower, it is 0.95. 

Scale Metrics and Average Item Discrimination 

Since it is the difference between the household measure and item parameters that determines the 

probability of affirmation, it is clear that the metric can be transformed by adding a constant to 

both the household measure and item parameter without changing the character of the scale. That 

is, the size of the intervals on the scale conveys meaningful information, but the zero point is 

arbitrary. The U.S. Household Food Security Scale uses a metric for the 18-item scale based on a 

mean item of 7 for parameters of the 18 items in order to keep all item parameters and household 

scale scores positive (Bickel et al. 2000). This results in household scale scores that range from 

about 1.5 to 13. 

Although the size of the interval on the Rasch scale is inherently meaningful, it can be affected 

by factors such as random measurement error (statistical “noise”) in the item responses that are 

not fundamental to the measurement construct. To meaningfully compare item severities 

between two surveys, it is, therefore, often convenient to multiply the item parameters of one of 

the scales by a constant so as to equate the dispersion of item parameters in the two scales. 

(Dispersion is commonly measured by the standard deviation or mean absolute deviation of the 

item scores.) In this case the comparison is referred to as a comparison of relative item severities. 

Mathematically, this adjustment is equivalent to fitting the Rasch model as in (1) above, with the 

addition of a discrimination parameter, k, as follows: 

(3) Ph,i/(1-Ph,i)=e

(k(h-i))

35
For a scale based on a given set of data, the discrimination parameter is inversely proportional to 

the standard deviation (or any other linear measure of dispersion such as mean absolute 

deviation) of the parameters of the items in the scale. This relationship is used to assess how well 

the items in a survey discriminate, compared to a standard. If test data are fitted to the Rasch 

model with the discrimination parameter constrained to 1, then the ratio of the standard deviation 

of the items in the test data to the standard deviation of the same items in a standard scale (such 

as that based on the 1998 CPS) compares the average discrimination of the items in the test data 

to their average discrimination in the standard. 

Rasch Model Estimation and Household Severity Measures 

Software that implements the Rasch model begins with the household-by-item matrix of 

responses. Maximum-likelihood methods are then used to estimate the household measures and 

item severity parameters most consistent with the observed responses under the Rasch 

assumptions.13 The resulting household scores are a continuous interval-level measure of the 

extent of food insecurity in the household. These scores are appropriate for associative analyses 

such as correlation and regression, with the caveat that the score for households that denied all 

items cannot be estimated by the Rasch model. Such households are more secure than those that 

affirm one item, but the extent of the difference, and thus the precise measure of the food 

security of households that deny all items is not known. 

Assessing Individual Items: Item-Fit Statistics 

The Rasch model also provides the basis for “fit” statistics that assess how well each item, each 

household, and the overall data conform to the assumptions of the measurement model. Two 

statistics commonly used to assess how well responses to items correspond to the Rasch-model 

assumptions (or “fit” the model) are “infit” and “outfit.” After item parameters and household 

scores have been estimated, the probability of an affirmative response in each cell of the 

household-by-item matrix is calculated. The infit and outfit statistics are then calculated by 

 

13 Three different maximum likelihood approaches are commonly used to estimate Rasch parameters from item 

response data, joint maximum likelihood (JML), conditional maximum likelihood (CML), and marginal maximum 

likelihood (MML). A full discussion of these methods is beyond the scope of this paper. All analyses reported here 

are based on JML. Cohen et al. (2002) compare JML with MML estimates and find that relative item severities are 

almost identical between the two methods, although JML overestimates the dispersion of item parameters modestly. 

(This is a well-know characteristic of JML estimates of Rasch item parameters.) CML estimates recover item 

parameters without bias from simulated, perfectly Rasch-consistent data (Nord, 2006). 

36
comparing the actual responses to the probabilistically expected responses in each cell of the 

matrix. Infit is an “information-weighted” fit statistic for each item, so that it is sensitive to 

responses by households with severity scores in the range near the severity level of the particular 

item.14 Outfit is sensitive to unexpected responses from households with severities much higher 

or lower than that of the item—that is, to highly improbable responses (outliers).15 

Both statistics compare observed deviations of responses from the deviations expected under 

Rasch assumptions, so the expected values of the statistics are 1. Fit statistics higher than 1 

indicate items that are less strongly or consistently related to the underlying condition (food 

insecurity) measured by the set of items. Such an item will have a disproportionate share of “outof-order” responses (i.e., affirmative responses by households with severity scores below that of 

the item or denials by households with severity scores above that of the item). Values of infit and 

outfit below 1.0 indicate items that are more strongly and consistently related to food insecurity 

than the average item. 

The single-parameter Rasch model, which is used in creating the food security scales, assumes 

that all items discriminate equally sharply, so fit-statistic values (especially infit) that are far 

 

14 Item infit is calculated as follows: 

INFITi = SUM [(Xi,h - Pi,h)

2

] / SUM[Pi,h - Pi,h2] 

where: 

Xi,h is the observed response of household h to item i (1 if response is yes, 0 if response is no); 

Pi,h is the probability of an affirmative response by household h to item i under Rasch assumptions, given 

the item parameter and the estimated level of severity of food insecurity in the household. 

The expected value of each item’s infit statistic is 1.0 if the data conform to Rasch model assumptions. Values above 

1.0 indicate that the item discriminates less sharply than the average of all items in the scale. 

15 Item outfit is calculated as the average across households of the squared error divided by the expected squared 

error: 

OUTFITi = SUM [(Xi,h - Pi,h)

2

 / (Pi,h - Pi,h2)] / N 

where: 

Xi,h is the observed response of household h to item i (1 if response is yes, 0 if response is no); 

Pi,h is the probability of an affirmative response by household h to item i under Rasch assumptions, given 

the item parameter and the estimated level of severity of food insecurity in the household; 

N is the number of households. 

The expected value of each item’s outfit statistic is 1.0 if the data conform to Rasch model assumptions. Values 

above 1.0 indicate a higher than expected proportion of “erratic” responses—affirmative responses to a severe item 

by households that affirmed few other items or denials of a low-severity item by households that affirmed many 

other items. 

37
from unity call into question the suitability of the item for use in the scale. As a general rule, 

infits in the range of 0.8 to 1.2 are considered to be good and 0.7 to 1.3 may be acceptable. Infits 

in the range 1.3 to 1.5 may not distort measurement to an unacceptable degree, but should be 

improved for general use (Linacre and Wright, 1994). Infit below 0.7 indicates an item that is 

strongly associated with the underlying condition measured by all of the items (food insecurity). 

Including such an item may be acceptable practice, but the information provided by the item is 

undervalued in the equal-weighted Rasch measure. 

Similar standards may be applied to outfit statistics, but, in practice, outfits are very sensitive to a 

few highly unexpected observations. As few as two or three highly unexpected responses (i.e., 

denials of the least severe item by households that affirm most other items) among several 

thousand households can elevate the outfit for that item to 10 or 20. Furthemore, outfit statistics 

are seriously distorted if households that deny all less severe items are skipped over the 

remaining, more severe, items. Carefully interpretted, outfit statistics may help identify items 

that present cognitive problems or have idiosyncratic meanings for small subpopulations, but 

there are no standard cutoffs for assessment. 

Food Security Scale: Applications and Standards 

Food security data have been collected annually in the U.S. since 1995 through a nationally 

representative household survey sponsored by USDA and conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau 

(Nord et al., 2007a). The food security scale was initially developed and tested using data from 

the April 1995 CPS Food Security Supplement (Hamilton et al., 1997b). The food security scale 

has been reassessed in the succeeding years and found to be essentially stable (Ohls et al., 2001; 

Cohen et al., 2002). Item parameters based on the August 1998 food security survey are 

presented in Guide to Measuring Household Food Security, Revised 2000 (Bickel et al., 2000) 

and are the basis of the standard method described in the Guide for assigning household scores, a 

method that does not require Rasch software. The standard scores in the Guide are also the basis 

for household scores in the public-use data files of the CPS food security surveys beginning in 

1998. These item scores are used as a standard of comparison in the present study.

38
Appendix C: the Dominican Republic Food Security Questions: the Pilot Survey 

ENCUESTA SOBRE LA SEGURIDAD ALIMENTARIA 

EN HOGARES DOMINICANOS 

Lugar de entrevista_____________________________ 

Fecha de la entrevista__________________________ 

Nombre del encuestador_________________________ 

Dirección del entrevistado_____________________________ 

DATOS GENERALES 

a. Nombre y apellidos de la persona entrevistada------------------------------ 

___________________________________. 

b. Sexo: 1).Masculino------------------- 2).Femenino------------- 

c. Lugar de Nacimiento________________Edad_________. 

d. Sabe leer: 1).Si-------- 2).No---------- 

e. Sabe Escribir: 1)Si----2)No------. 

f. Grado escolar: 1) analfabeto------------2) semianalfabetos------------ 

3) primaria______4) secundaria______5) universitaria_____ 

6) Otro, especifique______. 

g. Número de Hijos que viven en el hogar: ------------------- 

h. Numero de personas total que viven en la casa del entrevistado_______ 

i. ¿Cuantas dormitorios tiene la casa?______ 

j. ¿Donde realizan sus necesidades fisiológicas (defecación) 

1)Letrina___2)inodoros___ 3)campo abierto___4) otros (especificar)________ 

Pregunta general / control: 

1. ¿Cuál de estas afirmaciones describe mejor la situación de la alimentación de usted y su familia 

durante las últimas 4 semanas? (Leer todas las afirmaciones antes de responder). 

La comida ha sido: 

[7 ] Suficiente del tipo de alimento que quieren comer (Salte 1a y 1b)

[8 ] Suficiente pero no del tipo de alimento que quieren comer (Salte 1a; pregunte 1b) 

[ 9 ] A veces no ha sido suficiente (Pregunte 1a; salte 1b)

[10 ] Frecuentemente no ha sido suficiente (Pregunte 1a y 1b) 

[ 5 ] No sabe (NS) o no responde (NR) (Salte 1a y 1b)

1.a [SI LA OPCION [9] O [10] ES SELECCIONADA ARRIBA] Aquí hay algunas razones para explicar 

porque la comida en su hogar ha sido insuficiente Para cada una dígame si es una razón por la cual 

ustedes no comen suficiente. Leer todas; marcar donde aplique) 

 Sí No NS 

 [1 ] [4 ] [5 ] No ha habido suficiente dinero para comida 

[ 1 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] No ha habido suficiente tiempo para comprar o cocinar 

[ 1 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] En dieta 

[ 1 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] No ha habido gas, leña o carbón, o equipo para cocinar 

[ 1 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] No puede cocinar o comer por razones de salud 

1b [SI LA OPCION [8] ES SELECCIONADA] Aquí hay algunas razones para explicar por qué la familia 

algunas veces no tienen la calidad o variedad de comida que desean. Para cada una dígame si es una 

razón por la cual ustedes no comen la clase de comida que ustedes quisieran.(Leer todas; marcar donde 

aplique) 

Sí No NS 

 [ 1 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] No ha habido suficiente dinero para esa comida 

[ 1 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] No ha estado disponible la clase de comida que deseamos 

[ 1 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] No ha habido suficiente tiempo para comprar o cocinar 

39
[ 1 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] Mucha dificultad para llegar al lugar de expendio 

 (Colmado, pulpería, mercado...) 

[ 1 ] [ 4 ] [5 ] En dieta especial 

MODULO CLAVE 

NIVEL 1: Preguntas 2-6 

Aquí hay algunas afirmaciones que las personas hacen acerca de la situación de la comida en su familia. Para 

estas afirmaciones, por favor dígame si ha sido frecuentemente verdad, algunas veces verdad, nunca verdad o si 

no sabe (durante las últimas 4 semanas). 

La primera afirmación es: 

2. “En la familia hubo preocupación que se fuera acabar la comida antes de tener dinero para 

comprar más” (durante las últimas 4 semanas). 

 [ 2 ] Frecuentemente verdad 

 [ 3 ] Algunas veces verdad 

 [ 4 ] Nunca verdad 

 [ 5 ] NS o NR 

3. “La comida que se compró no fue suficiente, porque no se tenía dinero para comprar más” durante 

las últimas 4 semanas. 

[ 2 ] Frecuentemente verdad 

 [ 3 ] Algunas veces verdad 

 [ 4 ] Nunca verdad 

 [5 ] NS o NR 

4. “En la familia no hubo dinero para comprar la clase de comida con la calidad y variedad que 

deseábamos (“una comida balanceada”) durante las últimas 4 semanas. 

[2 ] Frecuentemente verdad 

 [ 3 ] Algunas veces verdad 

 [4 ] Nunca verdad 

 [ 5 ] NS o NR 

SI HAY NIÑOS O NIÑAS RESIDENTES EN EL HOGAR MENORES DE 18 AÑOS PREGUNTAR 5 Y 6; de lo 

contrario pasar a la pregunta 7. 

5. “Durante las últimas 4 semanas han tenido los niños que comer algunos alimentos baratos porque 

ustedes no tuvieron dinero para comprar otros”. 

[2 ] Frecuentemente verdad 

 [3 ] Algunas veces verdad 

 [ 4 ] Nunca verdad 

 [ 5 ] NS o NR 

6. “Durante las últimas 4 semanas no pudieron darles a los niños una comida de calidad (balanceada) 

porque no tenían dinero para comprarla”. 

[2 ] Frecuentemente verdad 

 [ 3 ] Algunas veces verdad 

 [4 ] Nunca verdad 

 [5 ] NS o NR 

SI RESPONDE LAS OPCIONES [2] O [3] (“frecuentemente verdad” O “algunas veces verdad”) A CUALQUIERA 

DE LAS PREGUNTAS DE 2 A 6, O LAS OPCIONES [8], [9], O [10] DE LA PREGUNTA 1, 

ENTONCES CONTINUE EN EL NIVEL 2 

NIVEL 2: preguntas 7-11 

SI HAY NIÑOS(AS) RESIDENTES EN EL HOGAR MENORES DE 18 AÑOS HACER PREGUNTA 7; SI NO 

PASAR A LA PREGUNTA 8 

40
7. ¿Durante las últimas 4 semanas los niños no comieron suficiente porque ustedes no pudieron 

comprarles la cantidad de comida necesaria? 

[ 2 ] Frecuentemente verdad 

 [ 3 ] Algunas veces verdad 

 [ 4 ] Nunca verdad 

 [ 5 ] NS o NR 

8. ¿Durante las últimas 4 semanas usted o alguno de los adultos del hogar tuvieron que reducir la 

cantidad de alguna de las comidas, o eliminar alguna comida porque no había suficiente dinero para 

comprarla? 

[ 1 ] Sí 

 [ 4 ] No (Salte 8a) 

 [5 ] NS o NR (Salte 8a) 

8a (SI LA RESPUESTA ES SÍ ARRIBA) ¿Cuántos días le ocurrió esto durante las últimas 4 semanas?

[ 3, 2 o 4 ] _______ días (Si menor o igual a 4 días (3); Si mayor de 4 días 

 (2), Si es igual a 0 (4) 

 [ 5 ] NS o NR 

9. ¿En las últimas 4 semanas, alguna vez comieron menos de lo que ustedes sentían que debían haber 

comido porque no había suficiente dinero para comprar comida? 

[ 1 ] Sí 

 [ 4 ] No 

 [ 5 ] NS o NR 

10. ¿En las últimas 4 semanas se sintieron con hambre pero no comieron porque no podían comprar 

suficiente comida? 

[ 1 ] Sí 

 [ 4 ] No 

 [ 5 ] NS o NR 

11. ¿En las últimas 4 semanas, alguno de ustedes perdió peso porque no tenían suficiente dinero para 

comprar comida? 

[ 1 ] Sí 

 [ 4 ] No 

 [ 5 ] NS o NR 

SI LA RESPUESTA ES AFIRMATIVA PARA CUALQUIERA DE LAS PREGUNTAS DEL 7 AL 11, 

ENTONCES CONTINUE EN EL NIVEL 3; SI NO PASE A LA PREGUNTA 17. 

NIVEL 3: preguntas 12-16 

12. ¿En las últimas 4 semanas, usted o alguno de los adultos de este hogar alguna vez no comieron 

durante todo el día porque no tenían dinero para comprar comida? 

[1 ] Sí 

 [ 4 ] No (Salte 12a) 

 [5 ] NS o NR (Salte 12a) 

12a (SI RESPONDE SÍ ARRIBA)? ¿Cuántos días le ocurrió esto durante las últimas 4 semanas? 

[ 3, 2 o 4 ] _______ días (Si menor o igual a 4 días (3); Si mayor de 4 días 

 (2), Si es igual a 0 (4) 

 [ 2 ] NS o NR 

12b ¿Cuál de estas afirmaciones describe mejor el # de comidas al día que usted y su familia han comido 

durante las últimas 4 semanas? 

[ ] 1 vez al día 

41
 [ ] 2 veces al día 

 [ ] 3 veces al día 

SI HAY NIÑOS(AS) EN EL HOGAR MENORES DE 18 AÑOS HACER LAS PREGUNTAS DEL 13 AL 16; De 

lo contrario salte a la 17.a 

13. ¿En las últimas 4 semanas, alguna vez se redujo la cantidad de comida para los niños porque no 

había suficiente dinero para comprar comida? 

[ 1 ] Sí 

 [ 4 ] No 

 [5 ] NS o NR 

14. ¿En las últimas 4 semanas, alguna vez se eliminó alguna comida durante el día para los niños porque 

no había suficiente dinero para comprarla? 

[1 ] Sí 

 [4 ] No (Salte 14a) 

 [ 5 ] NS o NR (Salte 14a) 

14a (SI RESPONDE SÍ ARRIBA) ¿Cuántos días le ocurrió esto durante las últimas 4 semanas?

[ 3, 2 o 4 ] _______ días (Si menor o igual a 4 días (3); Si mayor de 4 días 

 (2), Si es igual a 0 (4) 

 [ 2 ] NS o NR 

15. ¿En las últimas 4 semanas, alguna vez los niños sintieron hambre pero no podían comprarles más 

comida? 

[ 1 ] Sí 

 [ 4 ] No 

 [5 ] NS o NR 

16. ¿En las últimas 4 semanas, alguna vez los niños no comieron durante un día completo porque no 

había suficiente dinero para comprar comida? 

[1 ] Sí 

 [ 4 ] No 

 [5 ] NS o NR 

17. a Cuáles de estos alimentos son importantes para usted y su familia (PÓNGALO EN ORDEN DE 

IMPORTANCIA DONDE 1 = MAS IMPORTANTE Y 9 = MENOS IMPORTANTE) 

[ 11 ] Habichuela [ ] 

 [ 12 ] Leche [ ] 

 [ 13 ] Arroz [ ] 

[ 14 ] Plátano [ ] 

 [ 15 ] Pollo [ ] 

 [ 16 ] Huevos [ ] 

[ 17] Yuca [ ] 

 [ 18 ] Batata [ ] 

 [19 ] Papa [ ] 

[20 ] Guineo [ ] 

17b.Cuales de estos alimentos fueron importantes para usted dos o tres años atrás. (PÓNGALO EN 

ORDEN DE IMPORTANCIA DONDE 1 = AL MENOS IMPORTANTE). 

[ 11 ] Habichuela [ ] 

 [ 12 ] Leche [ ] 

 [ 13 ] Arroz [ ] 

[ 14 ] Plátano [ ] 

 [ 15 ] Pollo [ ] 

42
 [ 16 ] Huevos [ ] 

[ 17] Yuca [ ] 

 [ 18 ] Batata [ ] 

 [19 ] Papa [ ] 

[20 ] Guineo [ ] 

 

17c. Que importante son los siguientes alimentos para usted? (PÓNGALO EN ORDEN DE 

IMPORTANCIA DONDE 1= AL MÁS IMPORTANTE) 

[ 20 ] Frutas [ ] 

 [ 21 ] Vegetales [ ] 

 [ 22 ] Carne de res [ ] 

[ 23 ] Carne de chivo [ ] 

 [ 15 ] Carne de Pollo [ ] 

 [ 16 ] Huevos [ ] 

[ 24 ] Pescado [ ] 

 [ 19 ] Papa [ ] 

 [ 17 ] Yuca [ ] 

[ 20 ] Guineo [ ] 

18a ¿Cual de los siguientes enunciados describe mejor la forma de usted obtener sus alimentos? 

 [ 29 ] Los produzco 

[ 30 ] Los compro 

 [ 31 ] Produzco y compro a la vez 

 [ 32 ] Mis familiares y vecinos me proveen 

 18b.¿Que distante esta usted del lugar donde compra sus alimentos? 

 [ 25 ] Muy lejos 

[ 26 ] Lejos 

 [ 27 ] Cerca 

 [ 28 ] Muy cerca 

18c. (EN CASO DE QUE VENDA, sino pase a la 19.a) ¿Que distante esta usted del lugar donde 

generalmente vende sus alimentos? 

 [ 25 ] Muy lejos 

[ 26 ] Lejos 

 [ 27 ] Cerca 

 [ 28 ] Muy cerca 

19. a ¿Que es lo mas importante para usted en cuanto a la comercialización de productos? 

[ 33 ] Poder vender cualquier producto que usted desee ya sean alimentos o no alimento 

[ 34 ] Comprar cualquier producto que usted desee (alimentos, o no alimento) 

[ 35 ] Ambas cosas por igual, vender y comprar. 

19. b ¿Esta usted o alguno miembro de su familia empleado? 

 [ 36 ] Si 

 [ 37 ] No 

 Si selecciona [No] pase a la 20 

19. c ¿Cómo se recibe el pago? 

 [ 38 ] En dinero 

 [ 39 ] En comida o producción 

 [ 40 ] En ambas formas: dinero y alimentos 

 [ 41 ] Otra forma, favor de especificar__________________ 

19. d ¿Qué se produce donde usted trabaja? 

 [ 42 ] Productos agrícolas o pecuarios 

43
 [ 43 ] Productos no agrícolas 

 [ 44 ] Servicios 

 [ 45 ] Otro, especificar____________________ 

20. ¿Cuál de estas le provee mayores ingresos a usted y a su familia? (LÍSTELOS EN ORDEN DE 

IMPORTANCIA DEL 1 AL 5) 

 [ 46 ] Ofreciendo algún servicio 

 [ 47 ] Vendiendo lo que produce en el campo 

 [ 48 ] Salario recibido en la empresa 

 [ 49 ] Dinero que recibe de familiar o amigo que vive en el país 

 [ 50 ] Dinero que recibe del extranjero 

 [ 50.1 ] Estados Unidos 

 [50.2 ] Puerto Rico 

 [50.3 ] Europa 

 [50.4 ] Otro, especificar______________ 

 [ 51 ] Otro, especificar_____________ 

21. Realiza la mujer de este hogar alguna actividad que genere recursos para contribuir con la 

alimentación de la familia? 

[ 52 ] Sí 

[ 53 ] No 

De ser si, especifique cual_____________________________ 

22. ¿Qué tan satisfecho te sientes con tu nivel de vida actual? Si tomas en cuenta todas las cosas, cuál de 

estos enunciados definiría mejor como te sientes. 

 [ 54] Muy bien 

 [ 55 ] Bien 

 [ 56 ] No muy bien 

 [ 57 ] Nada bien 

¿Por qué? 

44
Appendix D: Comparison of Questions in the The Dominican Republic Food Security 

Pilot Survey and the UCLA/USDA Standard

Dominican Republic Pilot Food Security Survey UCLA/USDA Standard 

1. ¿Cuál de estas afirmaciones describe mejor la 

situación de la alimentación de usted y su 

familia durante las últimas 4 semanas? La 

comida ha sido: 

[ ] Suficiente del tipo de alimento que quieren 

comer 

[ ] Suficiente pero no del tipo de alimento que 

quieren comer 

[ ] A veces no ha sido suficiente 

[ ] Frecuentemente no ha sido suficiente 

1. ¿ Cuál de las siguentes oraciones describe mejor 

la situación de comida en su casa en los últimos 

doce meses ? 

[ ] Siempre como (comemos) lo suficiente y los 

tipos de alimentos que deseo (deseamos) 

[ ] Como (comemos) lo suficiente pero no siempre lo que deseo 

(deseamos) 

[ ] A veces no como (comemos) lo suficiente o 

[ ] Frecuentemente no como (comemos) lo 

suficiente 

Aquí hay algunas afirmaciones que las personas 

hacen acerca de la situación de la comida en su 

familia. Para estas afirmaciones, por favor dígame si 

ha sido frecuentemente verdad, algunas veces 

verdad o nunca verdad durante las últimas 4 

semanas. 

2. La primera afirmación es: “En la familia hubo 

preocupación que se fuera acabar la comida 

antes de tener dinero para comprar más” durante 

las últimas 4 semanas. 

[ ] Frecuentemente verdad 

[ ] Algunas veces verdad 

[ ] Nunca verdad 

Ahora le voy a leer algunas respuestas de la gente 

sobre su situación de comida. Para cada repuesta, 

favor de indicarme si ocurre en su casa 

frecuentemente, a veces, o nunca en los últimos 12 

meses, es decir desde el ultimo (mes actual). 

2. La primera oración es "Me (nos) preocupó que la 

comida se podía acabar antes de tener dinero 

para comprar mas." Para (Usted./su casa), ¿ Esto 

fue frecuentemente, a veces, o nunca en los 

últimos 12 meses? 

[ ] Frecuentemente 

[ ] A veces 

[ ] Nunca 

3. “La comida que se compró no fue suficiente, porque no 

se tenía dinero para comprar más” durante las 

últimas 4 semanas. 

[ ] Frecuentemente verdad 

[ ] Algunas veces verdad 

[ ] Nunca verdad 

3. La comida que compré (compramos) no duró 

mucho y no había dinero para comprar más.Para 

(Usted./su casa), ¿ Esto fue frecuentemente, a 

veces, o nunca en los últimos 12 meses? 

[ ] Frecuentemente 

[ ] A veces 

[ ] Nunca 

4. “En la familia no hubo dinero para 

comprar la clase de comida con la 

calidad y variedad que deseábamos 

(“una comida balanceada”) durante 

las últimas 4 semanas. 

[ ] Frecuentemente verdad 

[ ] Algunas veces verdad 

[ ] Nunca verdad 

4. (Yo/Nosotros) no teníamos lo suficiente para 

comer una comida balanceada (nutritiva). Para 

(Usted./su casa), ¿ Esto fue frecuentemente, a 

veces, o nunca en los últimos 12 meses? 

[ ] Frecuentemente 

[ ] A veces 

[ ] Nunca 

(continued) 

45
(Comparison of Questions in the The Dominican Republic Food Security Pilot Survey and the UCLA/USDA 

Standard, continued) 

Dominican Republic Pilot Food Security Survey UCLA/USDA Standard 

5. “Durante las últimas 4 semanas han tenido los 

niños que comer pocos tipos de alimentos 

baratos porque ustedes no tuvieron dinero 

para comprar otros”. 

[ ] Frecuentemente verdad 

[ ] Algunas veces verdad 

[ ] Nunca verdad 

5. Dependía (Dependíamos) de unos pocos 

alimentos de bajo costo para dar comida a los 

niños por que se nos terminó el dinero 

disponible para comprar alimentos. Para 

(Usted./su casa), ¿ Esto fue frecuentemente, a 

veces, o nunca en los últimos 12 meses? 

[ ] Frecuentemente 

[ ] A veces 

[ ] Nunca 

6. “Durante las últimas 4 semanas no pudieron 

darles a los niños una comida de calidad 

(balanceada) porque no tenían dinero para 

comprarla”. 

[ ] Frecuentemente verdad 

[ ] Algunas veces verdad 

[ ] Nunca verdad 

6. No tenía (teníamos) suficiente dinero para ofrecer 

una comida balanceada (nutritiva) a los niños. 

Para (Usted./su casa), ¿ Esto fue frecuentemente, 

a veces, o nunca en los últimos 12 meses? 

[ ] Frecuentemente 

[ ] A veces 

[ ] Nunca 

7. “Durante las últimas 4 semanas los niños no 

comieron suficiente porque ustedes no 

pudieron comprarles la cantidad de comida 

necesaria” 

[ ] Frecuentemente verdad 

[ ] Algunas veces verdad 

[ ] Nunca verdad 

7. Mi (s)/nuestros hijo(s) no comía(n) lo suficiente 

por que no tenía(mos) dinero para comprar 

suficiente comida. Para (Usted./su casa), ¿ Esto 

fue frecuentemente, a veces, o nunca en los 

últimos 12 meses? 

[ ] Frecuentemente 

[ ] A veces 

[ ] Nunca 

8. Durante las últimas 4 semanas usted o alguno de 

los adultos del hogar tuvieron que reducir la 

cantidad de alguna de las comidas, o eliminar 

alguna comida porque no había suficiente dinero 

para comprarla? 

[ ] Sí 

[ ] No (Salte 8a) 

8. En los últimos 12 meses, desde el último (nombre 

del mes presente) . ¿ Usted o algún miembro de 

su familia comió menos o dejó de comer por que 

no había suficiente dinero para la comida? 

[ ] Sí (GO TO 8A) 

[ ] No (SKIP TO 9) 

8a. (SI LA RESPUESTA ES SÍ ARRIBA) ¿Cuántos 

días le ocurrió esto durante las últimas 4 

semanas? 

_______ días 

8a. ¿Con qué frecuencia sucedió esto --casi cada 

mes, algunos meses, o solo en uno o dos meses? 

[ ] Casi cada mes 

[ ] Algunos meses 

[ ] Solo en uno o dos meses 

9. ¿En las últimas 4 semanas, alguna vez comieron 

menos de lo que ustedes sentían que debían 

haber comido porque no había suficiente dinero 

para comprar comida? 

[ ] Sí 

[ ] No 

9. En los últimos 12 meses, ¿ Comió usted menos 

de lo que pensaba que debía por que no hubo 

suficiente dinero para comida? 

[ ] Sí 

[ ] No 

(continued) 

46
(Comparison of Questions in the The Dominican Republic Food Security Pilot Survey and the UCLA/USDA 

Standard, continued) 

Dominican Republic Pilot Food Security Survey UCLA/USDA Standard 

10. ¿En las últimas 4 semanas se sintieron con 

hambre pero no comieron porque no podían 

comprar suficiente comida? 

[ ] Sí 

[ ] No 

10. En los últimos 12 meses, . ¿ Alguna vez tuvo 

hambre pero no comió por que no tuvo 

suficiente dinero para comida? 

[ ] Sí 

[ ] No 

11. ¿En las últimas 4 semanas, alguno de ustedes 

perdió peso porque no tenían suficiente dinero 

para comprar comida? 

[ ] Sí 

[ ] No 

11. En los últimos 12 meses, ¿ Perdió usted peso por 

que no tuvo suficiente dinero para comprar 

comida? 

[ ] Sí 

[ ] No 

12. ¿En las últimas 4 semanas, usted o alguno de los 

adultos de este hogar alguna vez no comieron 

durante todo el día porque no tenían dinero para 

comprar comida? 

[ ] Sí 

[ ] No (Salte 12a) 

12. En los últimos 12 meses, . ¿ Usted o algún otro 

adulto de su familia no comió por todo el día por 

que no hubo suficiente dinero para comida 

[ ] Sí (GO TO 12A) 

[ ] No (SKIP TO 13) 

12a. (SI RESPONDE SÍ ARRIBA)? ¿Cuántos días 

le ocurrió esto durante las últimas 4 semanas? 

_______ días 

12a. ¿Con qué frecuencia sucedió esto --casi cada 

mes, algunos meses, o solo en uno o dos meses? 

[ ] Casi cada mes 

[ ] Algunos meses 

[ ] Solo en uno o dos meses 

13. ¿En las últimas 4 semanas, alguna vez se redujo 

la cantidad de comida para los niños porque no 

había suficiente dinero para comprar comida? 

[ ] Sí 

[ ] No 

13. En los últimos 12 meses, ¿ Alguna vez le dió 

menos cantidad de comida a su(s) hijo(s) por 

que no hubo suficiente dinero para comida? 

[ ] Sí 

[ ] No 

14. ¿En las últimas 4 semanas, alguna vez se 

eliminó alguna comida durante el día para los 

niños porque no había suficiente dinero para 

comprarla? 

[ ] Sí 

[ ] No (Salte 14a) 

14. En los últimos 12 meses, ¿ Alguna vez su hijo o 

cualquiera de sus hijos no comió por que no 

hubo suficiente dinero para comida? 

[ ] Sí (GO TO 12A) 

[ ] No (SKIP TO 13) 

14a. (SI RESPONDE SÍ ARRIBA) ¿Cuántos días le 

ocurrió esto durante las últimas 4 semanas? 

_______ 

14a. ¿Con qué frecuencia sucedió esto --casi cada 

mes, algunos meses, o solo en uno o dos meses? 

[ ] Casi cada mes 

[ ] Algunos meses 

[ ] Solo en uno o dos meses 

(continued) 

47
48

(Comparison of Questions in the The Dominican Republic Food Security Pilot Survey and the UCLA/USDA 

Standard, continued) 

Dominican Republic Pilot Food Security Survey UCLA/USDA Standard 

15. ¿En las últimas 4 semanas, alguna vez los niños 

sintieron hambre pero no podían comprarles más 

comida? 

[ ] Sí 

[ ] No 

15. En los últimos 12 meses, ¿ Alguna vez su hijo o 

cualquiera de sus hijos tuvo hambre pero no 

tuvo suficiente dinero para comprar mas 

comida? 

[ ] Sí 

[ ] No 

16. ¿En las últimas 4 semanas, alguna vez los niños 

no comieron durante un día completo porque no 

había suficiente dinero para comprar comida? 

[ ] Sí 

[ ] No 

16. En los últimos 12 meses, ¿ Alguna vez sus hijos 

no comieron por todo el día por que no hubo 

suficiente dinero para comida? 

[ ] Sí 

[ ] No 

Sources: Dominican Republic Food Security Pilot Survey; Harrison et al., 2003.