ABSTRACT
The study of dietary patterns, especially under conditions of culture change, practically forces researchers to do quantitative data gathering, so mixed methods research has been especially usual in food and diet studies. Many ethnographic studies early in the twentieth century have included information on general dietary patterns in relation to food-getting systems. Oscar Lewis' research team compiled a considerable amount of general ethnographic data about family diets and food attitudes. John Cassel described a complex health care intervention program in South Africa during the 1940s, which included a combination of preventive initiatives and curative approaches; and was unusual for its time in the extensive involvement of local community people in the interventions. A very good example of the special forms of mixed methods research in the domains of diet and nutrition is a study in the 1990s, published with the title Culture, Environment, and Food to Prevent Vitamin A Deficiency, edited by Harriet V. Kuhnlein and Gretel H. Pelto.
