The Restaurant Accessibility and Task Evaluation Information Tool (RATE-IT).
The RATE-IT is a task oriented assessment tool that assesses functional occupation components of dining at restaurants for people with disabilities. RATE-IT focuses on four parent areas of measurement: 1) entrance of restaurants, 2) indoor pathways, 3) dining areas, and 4) restroom. Within each parent category are provided several subcategories to constitute a total of 675 items in order to evaluate every functional component of dining at restaurant.
Development- A three-step approach was implemented to develop hierarchical taxonomy of RATE-IT categories. Keys to all phases were considerations fundamental of accessibility, usability, and universal design features of restaurants. The first development phase included 1) a review of the literature, 2) iterative discussions with a taxonomy development team of specialists, and 3) integration of the RATE-IT taxonomy with a computer-based survey called XFACT. It took more than a year to develop initial draft of the RATE-IT before performing preliminary validation testing.
Figure 3: RATE-IT. Screenshot for the RATE-IT Taxonomy. Example of Main Categories with definition and “continue” button displayed.
RATE-IT Taxonomy
Bibliography
Presentations
Park, M., Smith, R. O., & Liegl, K. (2011, June). The Restaurant Accessibility and Task Evaluation Tool (RATE-IT). Presented at the Universal Design Conference of the FICCDAT International Conference. Toronto, Canada.
Park, M., Liegl, K. P., & Smith, R. O. (2011, April). Preliminary validation of the Restaurant Accessibility and Task Evaluation Information Tool (RATE-IT). AOTA 91st Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA.
Liegl, K. P., Lemke, M. R., Park, M., Erfurth, A., & Smith, R. O. (2011). Differences between Architecture and Occupational Therapy Student Perceptions of Restaurant Accessibility using the RATE-IT Evaluation Tool. Poster presentation at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research 2011, Ithaca, NY.
Thesis/Dissertation
Erfurth, A. (May 2011). Measurement of restaurant accessibility by people with disabilities: Preliminary consequential and construct validity of a restaurant universal design assessment. Unpublished master’s thesis, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Park, M. (April 2011). Preliminary validation of the Restaurant Accessibility and Task Evaluation Information Tool (RATE-IT): Content and construct validity. Unpublished master’s thesis, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
