Food Preparation Difficulty

What it measures

The scale assesses perceived preparation effort for a food item across four paired-adjective ratings. It offers a useful lens on how convenience cues — real or assumed — shape food choice and perceived value.

Response format

Semantic differential (point count not specified in the source)

Scale items

• It did not take any effort to prepare it / It took a lot of effort to prepare it
• It was probably easy to make it / It was probably difficult to make it
• It has a brief preparation time / It has a long preparation time
• It did not take any work to prepare it / It took a lot of work to prepare it

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

The source of this scale wasn't identified by Yamim, Mai, and Werle (2020), who used it to gauge perceived preparation effort for a food item among US MTurk participants; it showed strong internal consistency (α = .91). Validity wasn't separately assessed.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Yamim, A.P., Mai, R., & Werle, C.O.C. (2020). Make It Hot? How Food Temperature (Mis)Guides Product Judgments. Journal of Consumer Research, 47(4), 523–543.

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