METHODOLOGY OF NUTRITIONAL RESEARCH 



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to the total personality is imperative. The 

 psychologist is trained to approach behavior 

 quantitatively and to pay attention to inter- 

 individual variability of the responses. Due 

 to the fact that his science was rooted in 

 psychophysics and due to the temptation 

 to derive "general psychology" from obser- 

 vations on college students, the psychologist 

 is less sensitive to the cultural factors in 

 behavior. Traditionally, the anthropolo- 

 gist's descriptive and qualitative approach 

 has been oriented toward seeing a particular 

 feature of man's life within the framework 

 of the total culture. 



The research on food habits made marked 

 progress during the Second World War as a 

 result of the work of The Committee on Food 

 Habits of the National Research Council 

 (64). The Committee realized clearly that 

 problems of human nutrition, including food 

 habits, cut across many sciences, and that 

 their study demands the pooling of a variety 

 of research techniques. The Committee's 

 report recommended that data serving to 

 identify the cultural context within which 

 any particular study is made should be re- 

 corded routinely (63). 



McCay (46) indicated a need for a pro- 

 longed dietary study among the submariners. 

 This should be undertaken by a team of 

 research workers competent to describe the 

 nutritional, physiological, psychological, and 

 social aspects of feeding and eating within 

 the framework of the overall life aboard 

 submarines. Both the human and the tech- 

 nical aspects should be studied. A sub- 

 marine offers an ideal situation in which to 

 study food consumption over an extended 

 period of time. Such work should include 

 a record of the food issued to the submarine 

 at the start of the cruise, the food actually 

 eaten by the men, waste, refuse, and the 

 food remaining at the end of the study. 

 An attempt should be made to determine 

 whether any aversions to or desires for vari- 

 ous foods developed among the men as the 

 study progressed. 



The emotional value of food and eating 

 assumes particular importance under condi- 

 tions of Uving in very close quarters, with 

 inadequate recreation. The observations of 

 such aspects as the frequency of meals and 

 snacks should be supplemented by personal 

 interviews directed toward the assessment 

 of the psychological significance of food. As 

 far as we were able to determine, there is no 

 published or classified report on submarine 

 cruises which would provide information on 

 the changes in body weight, the simplest 

 index of the quantitative changes in food 

 intake. 



Most of the purely technical details of a 

 major study could be investigated ashore. 

 In connection with his studies on messing 

 aboard an aircraft carrier, McCay (45) 

 recommended the use of an experimental 

 galley for research aimed at the improvement 

 of equipment, foods, operations, sanitation, 

 and storing. Such a galley, although lo- 

 cated at a shore station and attached to a 

 regular mess hall, would reproduce in design 

 the deck space and equipment actually used 

 on ships. This is essentially the principle 

 of "job miniature situations." Its useful- 

 ness was demonstrated in a variety of prob- 

 lems, such as redesigning airplane cockpits 

 (24) and visual research (11). It is well 

 applicable to studies on the technological 

 aspects of meal preparations aboard a sub- 

 marine. 



The principle of utilizing realistic working 

 conditions applies equally well to the train- 

 ing of cooks. Since the space in the sub- 

 marine galley is very limited, the final train- 

 ing of the cooks should be under condition? 

 which exactly duplicate in all respects that 

 with which they will later have to contend 

 The men have to be trained to work in close 

 quarters and to utilize all available space 

 most efficiently. Time will eventually over- 

 come the handicap of such inexperience, but 

 the trial-and-error method is not compatible 

 with the required efficiency of cook and 

 crew. 



