Post observation guide

Appendix I

Post-observation Interview Guide

Introduction Script

Thank you so much for your time today and allowing us to record your actions while you prepared a meal just like you would in your home. Now I would like to ask you a few follow-up questions that will focus on some of the activities you participated in while in the model kitchen.

Is it okay with you if I record your answers? The recording is confidential and will only be used to accurately capture our conversation (allowed recording y/n).

If it is okay with you, I’d like to begin this interview, which will take about 20 minutes. If no: Terminate interview.

If yes: Proceed.

Observation Follow-Up (use trigger form for context)

1. Handwashing

• Did you wash your hands or not before you started cooking today?

  • [If yes] Do you usually wash your hands before preparing breakfast at home? Why?

  • [If no] Why didn’t you wash your hands? If you were cooking at home would you have washed your hands before preparing breakfast? [If participant doesn’t mention sanitizer] Did you happen to use hand sanitizer just prior to coming into the kitchen?

• At what other points, if any, did you wash your hands when cooking today?

• [If not mentioned] What about after making the sausage patties, did you wash your hands or not?

  • [If yes] Is that what you usually do when cooking at home? Why?

• Are there times when you know you should wash your hands, but you don’t? What times and why?

• Have you heard about any government recommendations for handwashing since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic?

  • [If yes] Tell me what you have heard.

  • [If yes] What do you think about these recommendations?

  • [If yes] How did you respond to these recommendations?

• Have your handwashing habits changed or stayed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic?

  • [If changed] Tell me more about the change you made and why you made these changes.

  • [If stayed the same] Why didn’t you make any changes?

1. Food Thermometer

• Now let’s talk about cooking the sausage patties. How did you determine the doneness of the sausage patties today?

• Is that how you usually determine doneness when cooking sausage patties at home? Why?

• [If used thermometer]

  • Do you have a food thermometer at home?

    • [If yes] Do you usually use a food thermometer when cooking sausage patties at home?

      • [If have thermometer and do not use] Why do you not use it? What would encourage you to use a food thermometer when cooking sausage patties at home?

  • Why did you use a food thermometer today? [Probe if no reason is given for using a food thermometer: Is this something your family usually does? Is it a recommendation you saw somewhere?]

  • Where did you hear or learn about the need to use a food thermometer? [Probe: If website, specific website; If magazine, specific magazine; etc.]

  • How did you check the temperature using the food thermometer today? How did you insert it into the patty?

  • What temperature were you looking for? What temperature did the sausage patties reach?

  • Where do you find information on cooking temperatures?

  • [Probe on specific source: If a website, what website? If a magazine, which magazine?]

1. Preparation of Eggs

• Now let’s talk about preparing the eggs. Tell me how you prepared the eggs today from beginning to end.

• [Do not ask if prepared boiled eggs] What about washing your hands after cracking the eggs, is this something you did or did not do?

  • [If yes] Why? Is this something you usually do at home?

  • [If no] Why not?

• [Do not ask if prepared boiled eggs] Did you happen to get egg yolk or white on the counter or other surface after cracking the eggs?

  • [If yes] What did you do? Why did you do that?

  • [If no or prepared boiled eggs] Assume you were cooking at home and got egg yolk or white on the counter or other surface after cracking the eggs. What would you do? Why?

• [Ask if prepared scrambled eggs, poached eggs, or omelet] To what doneness did you cook the eggs, still soft/runny or firm? Why?

  • Why did you prepare your eggs to this doneness? Can you explain why?

  • [If cooked soft/runny] The Food and Drug Administration advises consumers to cook eggs until they are no longer soft. Before today, were you aware of this recommendation? What do you think about this recommendation?

• [Ask if prepared fried eggs] How did you prepare the fried eggs: (1) sunny side up [did not flip], (2) over easy, with the yolk still runny, (3) over medium, so the yolk is slightly runny, or (4) over well, so the yolk is hard. Why did you prepare the eggs this way?

  • Why did you prepare your eggs to this doneness?

  • [If cooked soft/runny] The Food and Drug Administration advises consumers to cook eggs until they are no longer soft. Before today, were you aware of this recommendation? What do you think about this recommendation?

• Where do you usually store eggs at home? [Probe: If refrigerator, where in the refrigerator: door vs. shelf in interior of refrigerator]

• What do you think about the safety of eggs purchased from the farmer’s market versus those purchased from a retail grocery store; are they both equally safe or do you consider one source to be safer? Why do you say that?
  
  
  

1. Preparation of Cantaloupe for the Fruit Salad

• Now let’s talk about preparing the fruit salad. Tell me how you prepared the fruit salad from beginning to end.

• What about washing the cantaloupe before you cut it, is this something you did or did not do?

  • [If yes]

    • Why did you wash it? What were you trying to accomplish?

    • How did you wash it? [Probe: rinse under running water, rub with hands, scrub with a brush, soak in water]

    • What about washing your hands after washing the cantaloupe, is this something you did or did not do?

      • [If yes] Why?

  • [If no] Why didn’t you wash the cantaloupe?

• The Food and Drug Administration advises consumers to wash cantaloupe before cutting them. Before today, were you aware of this recommendation?

1. Cleaning/Sanitizing

• Assume you just finished preparing eggs and sausage at home. Walk me through how you would usually clean up.

• [If not mentioned] What about sanitizing, for example, do you usually use chlorine bleach or another sanitizer when cleaning up after preparing breakfast foods like egg and sausage?

  • Why or why not?

  • [If yes] What would you use and how would you use it?

1. Questions about Food Safety Label

• What did you think about the packaging on the sausage?

  • What did you like?

  • What didn’t you like?

• Did you notice any information on the package on how to prepare the sausage?

  • [If yes] What did you notice? Probe: [If not mentioned] Was there any specific information on food safety?

  • [If recalled information on food safety]

    • What did it say?

  • Did the food safety instructions influence how you prepared the meal today?

    • [If yes] In what way? [Probe: specific food safety instruction and food]

    • [If no] Why not?
      
      

• Do you usually look for and read the instructions when preparing breakfast sausage at home?

  • [If yes] What information are you looking for?

• [Treatment Group Only] Here’s the label that was on the sausage package. The purpose of the label is to instruct consumers on how to prepare the product so that it is tasty and also to help ensure food safety.

  • With this in mind, tell me what you think about whether the label provides this information or not.

  • Do you have any suggestions for improving the label so that consumers properly prepare the product to ensure that it tastes good and if safe? [If yes] Please describe.

7. Conclusion

We mentioned in our recruiting materials that we were interested in testing new recipes. However, the specific focus of our study is on food safety and how to prevent food poisoning. We purposely did not tell you exactly what our specific research objectives were in advance so that we could capture your behaviors in a natural way. In addition, a biological tracking agent was in the food to help us track where contamination might occur. This biological tracking agent was harmless bacteria called Escherichia coli (E. coli) K12 DH5-alpha, it does not pose any health hazard to you, and has been approved for use in this study by the Division of EHS and the Institutional Review Board at NCSU. Part of its name may sound familiar because it is a harmless cousin of E. coli O157. There are hundreds of strains of E. coli, many are needed for our gut system to work correctly and are not able to make us ill. E. coli DH5-alpha doesn’t have the genes that cause disease that E. coli O157 does, which is why the second part of their names are different. This makes E. coli DH5-alpha non-pathogenic, non-toxic, and safe for humans to handle. You can request to be removed from the study at any time, and if you decide to exit the study at this point, we will destroy the recordings of your actions, and you will not be included in the data set.

We want to confirm with you now that you understand the focus of our study and that you wish to remain as a participant.

If no: Thank you so much for your time; we will remove your data from our data set and destroy any records.

If yes: Thank you for your consent.

Thank you again for your time and for your participation in our study today.

Please see the greeter on your way out to receive the $75 gift card and gift and information from USDA on food safety.

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