Healthy School Meals Improve Educational Outcomes: Evidence from Belot & James (2011) - Case Study

ntroduction

The dietary intervention has a positive correlation with the level of students' performance and other educational outcomes. Many scholars have grounded several studies to explore the relationship between the two variables. The results prove that healthy school meals have better educational outcomes in both primary and secondary school students. The research article, Healthy school meals and educational outcomes by Belot and James (2011), provides well-grounded field evidence on how dietary intervention affects students' educational outcomes.

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Research Context

The article by Belot and James (2011) attempts to find the relationship between student performance and healthy meals served to students. The article states that the level of diet for children at schools has seen a downward pattern for the past decades. It is currently becoming fundamental preoccupation sources in viewing the increasing obesity rates in children (Belot and James, 2011). The main idea behind children's diet is a fundamental preoccupation source because it influences the health outcomes of an individual and directly links to the level of academic performance and the abilities of children to learn.

The research by Belot and James (2011) explored whether and to what level healthy foods had impacts on students' learning and educational outcomes by exploiting the special "natural experiment" in the UK. The experiment (the "Feed Me Better" Campaign) was carried out in 2004/2005 to improve schools' standards of nutrition. The study was limited to a sample of primary school students because: (i) past pieces of literature on economics have explored the relevance of dietary intervention in early childhood, (ii) primary school students are less likely allowed to leave school for lunch as compared to secondary school students. Therefore, secondary school students can substitute school meals with meals of their choice, as opposed to primary school students (Belot and James, 2011).

Research Questions

The study aimed at exploring whether healthy school meals were positively linked to the level of students' learning and educational outcomes. Besides, the study aimed at evaluating the effects of the campaign on educational outcomes and absenteeism in primary schools using the difference in difference (DD) approach. The study also aimed at comparing the educational outcomes before and after the reforms of such programs. Therefore, using such objectives, the following were the guiding research questions for the study:

• What are the impacts of the “Feed Me Better” campaign on educational outcomes in primary school students?
• What are the impacts of the “Feed Me Better” campaign on absenteeism in primary school students?
• What are the impacts of the “Feed Me Better” campaign on free school meal take-up rates in primary school students?

Type of the Research Design

The study uses a descriptive method of quantitative research design to explore the relationship between healthy school meals and educational outcomes in primary school students. Quantitative research design is a type of research design, which involves deductive methods of thinking and analysis to prove certain hypotheses of a study to support or reject a theory of an assumption (Atmowardoyo, 2018). In the study by Belot and James (2011), they wished to test the hypotheses whether the "Feed Me Better" campaign had direct links to the educational outcomes, absenteeism, and free school meal take-up rates of primary school students. "A descriptive survey attempts to establish the range and distribution of some social characteristics, such as education or training, occupation, and location, and to discover how these characteristics may be related to certain behaviour patterns or attitudes” (Ellett, 2011). Further, the study also employs an experimental research design by reviewing the "Feed Me Better" experiment and its relationship to students' educational outcomes. Moreover, the study's outcomes also prove that the study followed a descriptive research design.

Description of the Study Sample and Study Population

The study aimed at exploring whether there was a relationship between healthy meals and educational performance. The study, therefore, used the "Feed Me Better" experiment to assess the study objectives. The study used primary school students as the population of the study. The study was limited to the population of primary school students because: (i) past pieces of literature on economics have explored the relevance of dietary intervention in early childhood, (ii) primary school students are less likely allowed to leave school for lunch as compared to secondary school students. Therefore, secondary school students can substitute school meals with meals of their choice, as opposed to primary school students (Belot and James, 2011). The study used a sample of students from primary schools to conduct the analysis. The research used detailed information from the National Pupil Database (NPD), which matched the data obtained from the Pupil Level Annual Schools Census (PLASC). Particularly, the study used individual student data to analyze their educational achievements and school-level data to analyse the absenteeism and free school meal take-up rates of the students. Moreover, the NPD database gave students access to personal data such as ethnicity, low-income markers, and Special Education Needs (SEN) information.

Nature of Data

The data used for the study was obtained from the NPD database, which showed information such as ethnicity, low-income markers, and Special Education Needs (SEN). The data used for the study are majorly quantitative. However, qualitative data were also used in the study. For instance, the data obtained from the NPD database included ethnicity, low-income markers, and Special Education Needs (SEN) information for each student. Such data are qualitative. Qualitative data provides information about characteristics, features, and descriptions of certain variables, e.g., Age, ethnicity (O'Connor and Gibson, 2003). The study has also used descriptive and quantitative data to analyse students' educational achievement and such data as the proportion of people, social housing status, and rate of obesity, among others.

Features of Ethical Research

The study had a lot of features that demonstrated an ethical study. First, the study has observed respect for intellectual property, and as such, all the pieces of literature used in the study have been cited and referenced. For instance, the neighbourhood statistics and data used in the study have been referenced and cited from the Office of National Statistics. Moreover, the study has also obeyed the confidentiality of the research participants (Yip, Han, and Sng, 2016). Other ethical issues that the article has obeyed include legality and responsible publication.

Quality of Samples and Data Collected

The data collected and sample used for the study has been collected from a secondary database of information such as NPD and PLASC. The data collected have the quality of being used in research because the data used met the relevance, importance, and the needs of the researchers. For instance, the article concentrated on the analysis of data from 2002 to 2007 but excluded data in 2005 because the latter year had experienced many changes in the feeding habits of primary school students.

Quality of Reporting Information

The study has exhibited the high quality of reporting information. The article shows descriptive statistics for students (table 2a and 2b), which shows the high quality of information. The results have been reported using p-values, regression model, and R-squared components, which shows the quality of data reporting.

The relevance of the Article

The article has explained the value of dietary intervention on the level of performance and other education outcomes in students. Therefore, the article is relevant to the practicing teachers because it makes them understand that students' performance and other educational outcomes are a matter of effectiveness of teaching and the inclusion of healthy foods.

Recommendation

The study concluded that healthy foods improve students' performance in primary school students. Therefore, I recommend that the results from this study be incorporated into other institutions to improve students’ performance. School staff can understand the motives of this article by doing a practical experiment to determine students' performance due to different dietary interventions.

Alternative Research Design

The study used an experimental research design to understand the relationship between healthy foods to students and the level of academic outcomes of such students. In the prior research design, the researcher manipulated the outcomes of the data in 2004-2005 by introducing new feeding patterns in primary schools. An alternative approach to the experimental research design used for this study would be to use a correlational study approach. A correlational study is a non-experimental research design. The researcher will measure the variables of the study and assess their statistical relationships without controlling the extraneous variables that the study uses (Cheng et al., 2016). The correlational study design would be essential for the same study because it would attempt to answer the research questions by attempting to find whether there is a positive correlation, negative correlation, or zero correlation among the variables of interest for the study. For instance, using this approach, the study would have the following hypothesis:

• The “Feed Me Better” campaign is positively related to the educational outcomes in primary school students.
• The “Feed Me Better” campaign has a positive correlation to the absenteeism in primary school students.
• The “Feed Me Better” campaign has a positive correlation to free school meal take-up rates in primary school students.

The correlational study design has been found essential in finding out the characteristics of one or many groups and how such characteristics vary in their relationships. The correlational study design is the most suitable replacement for the research in the article discussed. The correlational research design is essential because it is critical in determining the prevalence and correlation among different research variables. Besides, the correlational study design is essential in forecasting future events and outcomes using the current data. Therefore, the correlational design is essential in critical decision making and improving future mitigations of a research area (Curtis, Comiskey, and Dempsey, 2016).

The study's correlational method also helps researchers reduce possible mistakes that might occur in future studies. Moreover, the correlational study design is critical in analysis using such important statistical analyses methods such as regression analysis. The use of correlational study design would need some other resources for reference. For instance, the study would need resources such as print media articles such as books, brochures, magazines, journals, newspapers, and books for the collection of secondary data. The study would also rely on the use of the internet and the World Wide Web to obtain secondary data.