Integrating ethnographic research with nutrition studies.

A major methodological problem is dietary intake research is the specification of an adequate sampling design. Ethnographic research provides the investigator with essential data for more effective research design by establishing sources of temporal variation in food intake and by identifying significant consumption settings and main sociocultural characteristics affecting intracommunity differences in foot intake. A checklist of sources of temporal variation commonly found in various societies is presented as a guide for ethnographic work. Other uses of ethnography to improve dietary intake methodology are the identification of culturally and socially sensitive aspects of food use and the provision of background information for the interpretation of research results.