The

Healthy
Eating
Foundation
9th April 2009

Dear Participant:

The Healthy Eating Foundation invites you to participate in an exciting research project. This project aims to
determine the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of dieticians towards organic foods. Attached to this letter is a
short questionnaire developed by our researchers for dieticians to assess your knowledge and outlook on issues
relating to organic foods. We believe your extensive nutritional knowledge will be extremely helpful to us.

Through your participation in the questionnaire, we hope to ascertain the varied opinions and knowledge base
of nutritionist’s towards organic foods to help us formulate a general consensus on the future of both the
introduction and consumption of this food for the Australian public.

All questionnaires will be kept strictly confidential to the researchers involved and at NO time will individual
questionnaires be released to the general public. This gives you a chance to express your views on organic
foods in a confidential and anonymous forum and still be able to make a difference. Your participation in this
study is completely voluntary so you can withdraw from the questionnaire at any stage.

Our questionnaire should take about 10 – 15 minutes to complete, but there is no time constraint. There are also
no right or wrong answers. Attached to this letter along with the questionnaire is an instruction sheet, a consent
form and a feedback sheet. As this is a new project, your feedback is also important to us and we would be
much obliged if you could also complete the feedback sheet along with the questionnaire. We understand that
your time is at a premium but your opinions are very valuable to us at the Healthy Eating Foundation.

After careful and precise analysis of the data obtained from this questionnaire, we will be happy to provide you
with a copy of our findings at your request. The results of this questionnaire will hopefully clarify the issue of
organically produced foods for the public and for those in the nutritional field.

We thank you in advance for your time and participation. If any questions do arise, feel free to contact us at
your convenience.

Yours Sincerely,

Lawson Williams David Yang

Co-Founder Co-Founder

The Healthy Eating Foundation

Phone: 0416-052-503 or 0408-011-608
Email: lwil0955@usyd.edu.au or wyan6284@usyd.edu.au
Should you have any concerns about the conduct of this research project, please contact
Gail Briody, Senior Ethics Officer, Ethics Administration on (02) 8627 8175 or email gbriody@usyd.edu.au
The Human Research Ethics Committee. Level 6, Jane Foss Russell Building - G02, The University of Sydney
How to Complete and Send the Questionnaire and Consent Form

There are 3 ways to complete and send the questionnaire and consent form:

1. Complete the enclosed questionnaire and consent form and send via the enclosed pre-paid, pre addressed
envelope or via fax to: (02) 9707 1721

2. Use the enclosed CD that contains an electronic copy of the questionnaire/consent form. Open the file and
‘save as’ on your computer. Complete both the questionnaire and consent form on the computer and send as an
attachment to either:
• lwil0955@usyd.edu.au or
• wyan6284@usyd.edu.au

3. Download a copy of the questionnaire/consent form from “insert website”, complete both the questionnaire
and consent form on your computer and send as an attachment to either:
• lwil0955@usyd.edu.au or
• wyan6284@usyd.edu.au

4. If possible, please also complete and send back the feedback sheet via one of the above three methods.

Checklist:
□ Have I completed the whole survey
□ Have I signed the consent form
□ Have I completed the feedback sheet

Consent Form:

I, __________________________________________, hereby consent to be a participant in the “Organic

Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs and Behaviours” Questionnaire and understand that the purpose of it is to
understand the knowledge base, attitudes and beliefs of nutritionists/dieticians with regards to organic foods
and its issues. I also understand that the questionnaire will be used to further the understanding of the
researchers at the Healthy Eating Foundation and hopefully help formulate a general consensus to be provided
to the Australian public.

I acknowledge that:
• Any information I provide will be strictly anonymous to the public.
• Any individual information I provide will be kept confidential and will never be released to the public.
• Any information I provide will be used for research purposes only.
• I am free to withdraw from this study at any time without adverse consequences and any information
provided will be not be used.

Signed___________________________________ Date_____/_____/ 2009

□ I wish to obtain a copy of the results of this questionnaire

Please send to:

Address: ____________________________________________ Post Code:________
Email: _______________________________________________________________
Fax: _________________________________________________________________
Contact Phone Number: (__) _____________________________________________
 The
Organic Knowledge, Attitudes, Healthy
Eating
Beliefs and Behaviours Foundation

1. Are you: Male □ or Female □

2. What is your age in years?

18-24 □ 25-34 □ 35-44 □ 45-54 □ 55 or over □
3. What is your highest level of education you have completed?
Higher School Certificate □
TAFE □
University (Undergraduate Degree) □
University (Postgraduate Degree) □
Other (Please Specify) ___________________________________________________

4. How long have you been working in the field of nutrition? _______ years

5. Can you define what an organic food is?

Yes □  Please elaborate
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
No □

6. Organic foods:
a) Are grown without pesticides? True □ False □ Don’t Know □
b) Come from farming that is more sustainable? True □ False □ Don’t Know □
c) Are healthier for you? True □ False □ Don’t Know □
d) Only include plant produce? True □ False □ Don’t Know □
e) Are more expensive than conventional foods? True □ False □ Don’t Know □
f) Taste different to conventional foods? True □ False □ Don’t Know □

7. Compared to conventional farming, organic farming produces:

Higher Yields □ Lower Yields □ Similar Yields □ Don’t Know □

8. Compared to non-organic foods, the nutritional content of organic foods is:

Higher □ Lower □ Similar □ Don’t Know □

9. What percentage of world wide food sales do you think are organic?
1-10% □ 11-20% □ 21-30% □ 31-40% □ 41-50% □ 50% or over □

10. Do you know the process by which a farm or food can be certified organic?
Yes □ No □

11. What are some reasons why people eat organic foods?
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
12. Do you think you could tell the difference between an organic foodstuff from a non-organic
foodstuff? Yes □ No □ Not Sure □
13. Do you think there should be more government funding for organic farming practices?
Yes □ No □ Not Sure □

14. Do you think there should be more information given to the public about organic foods?
Yes □ No □ Not Sure □

15. Have you ever bought organic food/s?

Yes □  Why?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

No □  Why Not?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

16. “Health benefits of consuming a diet rich in non-organic fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
significantly outweigh any health risk from residual pesticide, herbicide, or fertilizer consumption”

Strongly Disagree Not Sure Agree Strongly

Disagree Agree

17. Do you have any concerns over organic food?

Yes □  What are they?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
No □

18. Strong supporters of the organic industry are opposed to other technologies such as genetic
modification/engineering. What are your thoughts on the matter?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

19. Have you ever recommended organic food to your clients and/or friends?
Yes □
No □  Would you ever recommend organic food to your clients and/or friends?
Yes □
No □

20. What do you think is the future outlook for organic food?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
The
__________________________________________________________________________________
Healthy
Eating
Thank you kindly for your participation! Foundation

Feedback Sheet
 Aspect
Questionnaire Rating (out of 10) Comments
Questionnaire Layout
(Was it easy to follow?) /10
Questionnaire Length /10
Questionnaire Appearance /10
Clear Instructions /10
Combination of Open and
Closed Questions /10
Question Flow /10
Questionnaire Wording
(Was there any offensive,
unclear or ambiguous /10
questions?)

Cover Letter
Rating (out of 10) Comments
Cover Letter Layout /10
(Was it easy to read?)
Cover Letter Information
(Any extraneous information?) /10
Cover Letter Wording
(Easy to understand?) /10
Cover Letter Appearance /10

Other Comments

Thank you kindly for your participation!