Concept mapping results permitted us to assess how
participants organized disparate nutrition-r'elated concepts
or features and to make a direct comparison of the per.ceived
lelative irnportance of these ideas. Figule I presents a cluster
map fbr all participants with 6 clustels. They include
healthy eating on a budget, healthy meal planning, student
personalization features, basic nutrition facts, body image
or weight concerns, and expert nutrition information. Figure
2 depicts the pattern match analysis.
The correlation between the ratings of clusters by both
groups was r = .92, indicating a high level of agreement
between how students and experts rated the relative importance
of the 6 clusters. These 2 groups rated all 6 clusters in
nearly identical ordel', suggesting that both experts and students
viewed these content areas as equally important (minimum
average cluster lating was 3.53 out of 5). The only
exception was that students rated body image or weight control
concerns higher than expert nutrition advice, whereas
the expelts rated expert nutrition advice higher than body
image or weight concerns. The high conelation between the
2 groups suggests that students and experts agreed on the
most impofiant nutrition issues for college students. Alternatively,
the refined list of 67 concept-mapping statements
generated by both groups identihed the most relevant nutritional
needs ofthis college student population, which in turn
generated high levels of agreement. Because the experts
were all health professionals on the fi'ont lines at campus
settings, they were particularly attuned to the health needs
of students.