Towards global monitoring: equating the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) and food insecurity scales in Latin America

TL;DR

This paper investigates methods to harmonize food insecurity measurement scales across Latin American countries to improve comparability for global monitoring, using statistical equating techniques on multiple scales.

Contribution

It introduces a comparative analysis of different equating methods, including classical and IRT-based approaches, for aligning food insecurity scales across countries and age groups.

Findings

Successful scale equating demonstrated improved comparability.

IRT-based methods provided more precise alignment.

Cross-country and age group harmonization enhances global food insecurity assessment.

Abstract

In order to face food insecurity as a global phenomenon, it is essential to rely on measurement tools that guarantee comparability across countries. Although the official indicators adopted by the United Nations in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) already embeds cross-country comparability, other experiential scales of food insecurity currently employ national thresholds and issues of comparability thus arise. In this work we address comparability of food insecurity experience-based scales by presenting two different studies. The first one involves the FIES and three national scales (ELCSA, EMSA and EBIA) currently included in national surveys in Guatemala, Ecuador, Mexico and Brazil. The second study concerns the adult and children versions of these national scales. Different methods from the equating practice of the educational testing field are explored: classical and based on the Item Response Theory (IRT).