Analytic Hierarchy Process Approach to Estimate Weights of Evaluation Categories for School Food Service Program in Korea

ABSTRACT

The purposes of this study were to (1) identify the evaluation categories, areas, attributes, and criteria of the school food service program using both a qualitative and a quantitative analyses, (2) define the relative importance of the evaluation categories, areas, attributes, and criteria of the school food service program using analytic hierarchy process, (3) organize the evaluation system to improve quality of the school food service in Korea. A survey was conducted from August to October 2004 to collect data from 172 dietitians, 15 school food service officials at the educational board, 10 professionals of school food service. Statistical analyses were performed on the data utilizing the SPSS 12.0 for Windows and Excel, such as Descriptive statistics and analytic hierarchy process was performed. The result of the analytic hierarchy process indicated that relative importance of evaluation category was 0.4319 (food service manage-ment), 0.2369 (nutrition education), 0.1455 (satisfaction) and 0.0912 (parent involvement program). 'Sanitation, safety and facility (0.1739)' was the most important area among the subcategories of food service management, followed by nutrition management (0.1581), procurement (0.1375), production (0.1345), organization and personnel management (0.0662), planning (0.0644), food service evaluation (0.0585), financial accountability (0.0555), and information management (0.0554). There existed a relative importance on the three areas of the nutrition program and satisfaction evaluation category: students (0.5281, 0.6221), parents (0.1812, 0.1491), and teachers (0.1838, 0.1618). In the parent involvement program evaluation category, relative importance of committee and monitoring management was 0.4658 and information communication was 0.3724. The quality of food and service to school children can be improved by the appropriate application of the developed evaluation tool for the school food service program.