A food frequency questionnaire asks how often a person eats a list of foods over a period such as the past month or year. This page gives a generic structure you can adapt, and says plainly which well-known FFQs you must obtain from their owners.
Free sandbox · No credit card · 21 CFR Part 11 aligned
Food frequency · Dairy and eggs
Over the past month · Demo study
Milk (any type)
Usual portion
Yoghurt
Eggs
At a glance
Structure
Every FFQ has the same four building blocks, whatever the name on the cover: a food list, a frequency scale, a portion question and a reference period. Differences between FFQs are mostly in how long the list is (from about 20 items for a screener to over 150 for a full instrument), how detailed the portion information is and how the answers are turned into nutrients.
Group foods in the order people think about them, not alphabetically: dairy, eggs, meat and fish, fruit, vegetables, grains, fats and spreads, sweets and snacks, drinks, then supplements. Short sections make the questionnaire easier on a phone, and a section header per group lets participants see their progress.
A typical scale runs from "never or less than once a month" through once a month, 2 to 3 times a month, once a week, 2 to 4 times a week, 5 to 6 times a week, once a day, to 2 or more times a day. Keep the categories exactly as the source FFQ defines them: scoring programs convert each category to a number of times per day, so changing the categories breaks the conversion.
Some FFQs are semi-quantitative: each frequency item comes with a standard portion, and the participant says whether theirs is smaller or larger. Others ask for portion separately with photos. Capture records the code the participant chooses; any photo atlas must be supplied by you.
Past month suits interventions with a short expected effect. Past year suits cohort studies and captures seasonal foods. State the period in the form header and in the protocol, and repeat it in the form context line on the phone.
| Own terms | Needs an owner's permission | Runs inside Capture | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Generic template (this page) | |||
| Published FFQ obtained from its owner | |||
| Automated web tool run by a third party |
Known FFQs
None of the instruments below is reproduced here. Terms change, so confirm with the owner before building one in any system.
| FFQ family | Owner or distributor | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Block FFQ | NutritionQuest (commercial distribution) | Licence or purchase from the distributor |
| Diet History Questionnaire (DHQ) | US National Cancer Institute | Follow NCI's own terms for research use |
| EPIC FFQs | The individual EPIC centres and their investigators | Ask the study centre that developed the version |
| Harvard FFQ family | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health nutrition group | Request from the group, with their terms |
| Country-specific validated FFQs | The authors or their institution | Cite the validation paper and ask permission |
Capture does not supply licensed instruments or their wording. Scoring programs and food composition tables are separate from the questionnaire and can have their own terms.
How to build it
Pick a validated FFQ for your population, or a generic list if your protocol allows it. Document why in the protocol.
Use dropdowns for the frequency scale and single choice for portion size. Short groups keep the phone version quick.
Store the frequency category and its code. Do not convert to times per day in the form; the scoring program does that.
A skipped item is ambiguous: it could mean never or missing. Include an explicit "never or less than once a month" answer and require a response.
Once at baseline and at the visit that closes the reference period, using a completion window and reminders.
Export coded answers with the data dictionary and run the FFQ's scoring program outside Capture.
Build the dropdown layout in the free sandbox and complete it yourself before settling on the section order.
Before go-live
Owner's permission in the study files; no reworded items.
Past month or year, shown on the form.
Which program or database produces nutrients, and who runs it.
Add a section if the FFQ does not include them.
Self-completed or interviewer-administered, the same for all participants.
Reminders per the ePRO compliance reminders controls, so a long FFQ is not left half-finished.
A questionnaire that asks how often a person eats each food on a list over a set period, such as the past month or year, and often how big their usual portion is.
An FFQ estimates habitual intake cheaply and suits large studies. A recall is more detailed for a specific day and needs repeating. Many studies use both. See the 24-hour dietary recall template.
No. It gives a generic structure. Established FFQs such as the Block FFQ, NCI's DHQ and EPIC questionnaires are owned by others, so obtain the one you want from its owner.
No. Capture records the codes participants choose and exports them with a data dictionary. Scoring happens in the FFQ's own program or in dietary analysis software.
Yes, in the phone browser from a secure link with no app to install. Splitting the list into food-group sections keeps it manageable.
It depends on the list: short screeners take a few minutes and full FFQs can take 30 to 60 minutes, which is why section-by-section saving and reminders matter.
Yes, in the free sandbox with the rest of the template library. You pay only when a study goes live.
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Build the food-group forms, schedule them and test on your phone. Free sandbox, no credit card.