PHYSICAL ACTIVITY QUESTIONNAIRES: FROM PAPER-PENCIL TO THE INTERNET. A METHODOLOGI- CAL

The questionnaire technique is still the most popular way to assess physical activity, although objective tools gain more popularity. The paper-and-pencil questionnaires have sev-eral advantages: low cost, non-invasive, calculation of en-ergy expenditure, and the ability to be modified in order to suit the population of interest. Finally, most of the ques-tionnaires reach acceptable reliability. However, there are some limitations: not applicable in children, expensive be-cause of staff costs, and underestimation of low intensity activities. Next, validity of questionnaires is difficult to es-tablish because of the absence of an inexpensive criterion. The advantages of paper-and-pencil questionnaires are equally valid for computerised questionnaires. However, specific advantages are attributed to computer question-naires. They enable the researcher to administer the ques