Comparative validity of the Internet and paper-and-pencil versions of the Night Eating Questionnaire

Objective This study examined the psychometric properties of the Internet and paper-and-pencil versions of the Mandarin Chinese version of the Night Eating Questionnaire (C-NEQ) and compared these measures’ validity. Method The C-NEQ was evaluated through two different media: 626 participants completed the C-NEQ on the Internet and 160 participants completed the paper-form C-NEQ at the psychiatric outpatient clinics. A subgroup completed both versions of the C-NEQ (n = 50). The Night Eating Syndrome History and Inventory was used to identify individuals with night eating syndrome (NES). Results The paper-and-pencil and Internet versions of the C-NEQ both showed good internal consistency, reliability, and concurrent validity. Reliability between the Internet and the paper-and-pencil versions of the C-NEQ was excellent (ICC = .96). Diagnostic analysis of the C-NEQ's performance using the Receiver Operation Curve method showed excellent results in both versions; the area under the curve did not differ significantly between the versions. Regarding detecting NES, the Internet version had a higher optimal cutoff point than the paper-and-pencil version (23 and 22, respectively). Conclusions The Internet and paper-and-pencil versions of the C-NEQ both showed strong reliability and validity; however the two versions appear to differ marginally regarding usage in NES detection.