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International Physical Activity Questionnaire (Short Form)

IPAQ-SF
health sciencespsychologyFree for research use

Permission: Free for research use. Free for non-commercial academic research, with no license fee. Cite the original publication.

A 7-item self-report questionnaire estimating physical activity (vigorous, moderate, walking) and sitting time over the past seven days, yielding MET-minutes per week.

Items
7
Response format
Open-ended frequency (days/week) and duration (minutes/day)
Version
1.0
Subscales
4

Ready-to-cite methods sentence

Physical activity was assessed with the short-form International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-SF; Craig et al., 2003), a 7-item measure with acceptable test-retest reliability (pooled ρ = .76 for the short form across 12 countries) that yields weekly MET-minutes and low/moderate/high activity categories.

Citing this in a methods section? This scale spans more than one discipline, so the style depends on where you publish. See the APA 7 or Vancouver guides, or compare all six citation styles.

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Reliability & validation

Validation population
Adults across 12 countries (Craig et al., 2003)
Test–retest
0.76

Subscales

Vigorous activityModerate activityWalkingSitting

Known limitations

Self-report over-estimates activity relative to accelerometry, and recall of durations is imprecise; best treated as a categorical classifier rather than a precise dose.

Original citation

Craig, C. L., Marshall, A. L., Sjöström, M., Bauman, A. E., Booth, M. L., Ainsworth, B. E., Pratt, M., Ekelund, U., Yngve, A., Sallis, J. F., & Oja, P. (2003). International Physical Activity Questionnaire: 12-country reliability and validity. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 35(8), 1381-1395.

https://doi.org/10.1249/01.MSS.0000078924.61453.FB

Questions researchers ask

What does the IPAQ-SF measure?

A 7-item self-report questionnaire estimating physical activity (vigorous, moderate, walking) and sitting time over the past seven days, yielding MET-minutes per week.

How many items does the IPAQ-SF have?

The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (Short Form) (IPAQ-SF) has 7 items across 4 subscales: Vigorous activity, Moderate activity, Walking, Sitting.

Is the IPAQ-SF free to use?

The IPAQ-SF is free to use for non-commercial academic research. You don't need to pay a license fee, but you should always cite the original publication.

Is the IPAQ-SF reliable?

Validation studies report test–retest reliability of 0.76. See the reliability section for the population studied and full statistics.

Who developed the IPAQ-SF, and how do I cite it?

Craig, C. L., Marshall, A. L., Sjöström, M., Bauman, A. E., Booth, M. L., Ainsworth, B. E., Pratt, M., Ekelund, U., Yngve, A., Sallis, J. F., & Oja, P. (2003). International Physical Activity Questionnaire: 12-country reliability and validity. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 35(8), 1381-1395. https://doi.org/10.1249/01.MSS.0000078924.61453.FB

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Library entry verified September 2026. Metadata is provided for reference. Questionnaires are built in Folio Surveyor, subject to each instrument's licensing, and can be taken to Qualtrics, Google Forms or Microsoft Forms, with their CSV responses brought back for scoring.