Diet and Physical Activity Assessment Methodology (R21 Clinical Trial Optional) | PAR 18 112

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Diet and Physical Activity Assessment Methodology (R21 Clinical Trial Optional) - PAR 18-112

1) What is the Diet and Physical Activity Assessment Methodology (R21 Clinical Trial Optional) opportunity (PAR 18-112)?

PAR 18-112 is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) discretionary grant opportunity that supports innovative, early-stage research to improve how dietary intake and physical activity are measured. The focus is on advancing measurement methodology so data on what people eat and how they move can be collected more accurately, reliably, and usefully in real-world settings.

2) What is the main goal of this funding opportunity?

The central goal is to strengthen the underlying measurement science for diet and physical activity assessment. Rather than focusing on running diet or exercise interventions themselves, the opportunity emphasizes creating, improving, and rigorously evaluating the tools and methods used to measure these behaviors.

3) What grant mechanism does this opportunity use?

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) uses the NIH R21 mechanism, which is generally intended for exploratory and developmental research. R21 projects commonly test new ideas, generate preliminary data, and pilot novel methods that could be expanded, scaled, or validated in larger future studies.

4) Are clinical trials required under this FOA?

No. Clinical trials are allowed but not required. Applicants may propose projects that do not meet NIH's definition of a clinical trial (such as instrument development and validation), or projects that do involve human participants in ways that qualify as a clinical trial.

5) What kinds of measurement problems is this FOA trying to address?

The FOA encourages research that goes beyond standard self-report approaches and tackles well-known limitations in diet and physical activity measurement, including recall bias, underreporting, misclassification, and variability in measurement performance across different populations and settings.

6) What types of projects are encouraged?

The announcement encourages development of novel assessment approaches, which can include new instruments, protocols, or frameworks that improve precision in capturing dietary intake and physical activity. It also encourages better ways to evaluate instruments, including calibration strategies, comparative validation against reference measures, reliability testing, and methods to quantify and reduce measurement error.

7) How important is technology in this FOA?

Technology is a significant emphasis. The FOA supports either new technology development or improved uses of existing technologies to reduce participant burden while increasing measurement fidelity. Examples mentioned include mobile apps, wearable sensors, image-based food records, passive sensing, GPS or contextual data streams, web-based recalls, and linked platforms.

8) Does the FOA support statistical and analytical method development?

Yes. The FOA calls for advances in statistical methods and modeling to improve assessment and correct for measurement errors or biases. This includes approaches to combine multiple imperfect measures, develop error models, adjust for systematic bias, and improve inference when diet and activity data are noisy or incomplete.

9) Does this opportunity support research on behavior patterns rather than single measures?

Yes. One encouraged direction is to treat diet and physical activity as multidimensional behaviors rather than single metrics. This includes pattern analysis (such as dietary patterns, temporal activity patterns, or combined behavior profiles) and integrated measurement approaches that capture both diet and activity.

10) Can projects incorporate environmental or contextual information?

Yes. The FOA explicitly mentions integrated measurement that can include environmental context, such as where behaviors occur, the built environment, food availability, or social and situational factors shaping choices.

11) Does the FOA emphasize measurement methods that work across diverse populations?

Yes. A major emphasis is ensuring assessment tools work well for culturally diverse populations and across the lifespan, specifically including children and older adults. The FOA notes that common tools may perform poorly due to differences in literacy, cognition, eating patterns, caregiving dynamics, or technology access and usability.

12) Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is broad and includes many U.S. organization types and governments, as well as non-U.S. entities. Eligible applicants include state, county, city or township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; Native American tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status (outside of higher education); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses.

13) Are particular institution types explicitly named as eligible?

Yes. The FOA explicitly names additional eligible categories including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and foreign organizations.

14) What is the funding agency for this opportunity?

The funding agency is the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

15) What is the award ceiling listed for this opportunity?

The opportunity record lists an award ceiling of $200,000.

16) What are the dates shown in the opportunity record?

The record lists a creation date of November 2, 2017 and an original closing date of July 17, 2018.

17) If the closing date is historical, is the summary still useful?

Yes. Even if the listed closing date is in the past, the description is still useful for understanding the scope and priorities of this specific FOA: high-impact innovations in diet and physical activity assessment methodology, strong attention to diverse populations, modern technology, rigorous evaluation, and analytical techniques that address measurement error and real-world complexity.

18) What is this FOA not primarily intended to support?

It is not primarily intended to fund diet or exercise interventions for their own sake. The emphasis is on improving the methods and tools used to measure dietary intake and physical activity, including how those tools are developed, validated, calibrated, and analyzed.

19) What kinds of real-world settings or use cases are implied by the FOA?

The FOA emphasizes real-world measurement and practical usefulness for researchers and public health programs, including contexts where standard tools may struggle (for example, settings with diverse cultural practices, varying literacy or cognition, caregiving involvement, and differing levels of access to or comfort with technology).

20) Why does the FOA emphasize calibration, validation, and reliability testing?

The FOA highlights these evaluation approaches because improving measurement requires more than building new tools; it requires demonstrating how well tools perform, how they compare to reference measures, and how measurement error can be quantified and reduced to improve the quality of diet and physical activity data.