The Pedometer: A Reassessment of its Usefulness in the Measurement of Activity Level

Abstract

The feasibility of using the pedometer to measure activity level was investigated. 35 male and 49 female subjects wore a pedometer and kept an activity diary for five consecutive days. The correlation between the two measures and the day-to-day reliability were examined. The pedometer showed high reliability and was strongly correlated ( r = .72) with the diary. It was suggested that the pedometer particularly when combined with a descriptive tool, such as a diary, can be useful in research on the relationship of activity level to overweight and other health-related behaviors.