Stanford 7-day Physical Activity Recall Scale (PAR)

The Stanford 7-day Physical Activity Recall Scale (PAR) estimates both work-related and non work-related physical activity. For each day of the past week, participants report the approximate number of hours they slept. Additionally, they provide details on the time spent in moderate, hard, and very hard activity. The scope of the PAR is meant to include any physical activity ranging from, for example, household cleaning to exercising to playing sports or practicing a musical instrument. Also included are four write-in questions for participants to evaluate the effectiveness or validity of the instrument itself.

Authors

James F. Sallis, Ph.D.

Reliability and Validity

• High correlations between the self-administered 7-day recall and the interview administered re-call (r = .83, p < .01) (Dishman & Steinhardt, 1988).
• High correlations between the self-administered 7-day re-call and a daily diary of physical activity (r = .82, p < .01) (Dishman & Steinhardt, 1988).
• High test-retest reliability for the interview PAR for hard activities (r = .31, p = .021), and very hard activities (r = .61, p = .0001) (Sallis et al., 1985).
• Test-retest results for the total score on the self-administered PAR at 3 and 7 weeks: (r = .58, p < .01; r = .42, p < .01). (Dishman & Steinhardt, 1988).
• Discriminant validity of the self-administered PAR was supported; the PAR distinguished between self-defined “trained” and “untrained” groups: (M trained = 279.9, M untrained = 212.6, p < .01). (Dishman & Steinhardt, 1988).
• Discriminant validity results consistent with results of measured cardiopulmonary fitness (VO2max): (M trained = 56.9, M untrained = 39.9, p < .01).(Dishman & Steinhardt, 1988).