Week 4 Case Analysis (BUS5250 Bus Analytics & Research Methods)

CASE CHAPTER 7: ELEMENTS OF RESEARCH DESIGN

THE EFFECT OF CALORIE INFORMATION ON FOOD CONSUMPTION

The (over)consumption of calories is one of the most important determinants of the obesity

problem in Europe and the United States. Governments promote the consumption of healthy

alternatives and try to support consumers in making healthy choices, for instance by the

introduction of the Nutritional Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) in the United States. The

NLEA requires manufacturers to provide nutrition information on the packaging of food

products. In a similar vein, the European Commission is working on an updated version of its

regulation on food labeling, issued in December 2006. This regulation defines specific

nutritional profiles which the food industry must comply with in order to bear nutrition or

health claims. Hence, governments want to make sure that consumers get reliable

information on food and eventually make more healthy choices. Despite these efforts, the

obesity problem continues to increase in the United States and Europe.

Jonathan Wilson is a business student at Tilburg University. He has been interested in the

overconsumption of food ever since he has read Brian Wansink’s famous study with the

“bottomless bowls.” For this study, Wansink brought in 60 people for a free lunch and gave

22 ounce bowls of soup to half, while the other half unknowingly got 22 ounce bowls that

automatically refilled as they ate (by an unseen tube under the table). The result: those eating

from the bottomless bowls thought they’d eaten the same amount as people with regular

bowls. They actually consumed 73% more soup. “The lesson is, don’t rely on your stomach to

tell you when you’re full. It can lie,” Wansink reacted to the results of this study.

Together with his thesis supervisor, Donald Driver, Jonathan has developed a series of studies

on the effects of Nutrition Labels on people’s attitudes toward the product, buying intentions,

and the perceived healthiness of food products. The purpose of his latest study was to

determine how the provision of objective calorie information on healthy food items

influences people’s experience of hunger.

Jonathan has developed a first draft of the method section of this study, which is detailed

next. The method section of a paper provides the methods and procedures used in a research

study.

The experiment: predictions

We compared hunger ratings between participants who sampled a healthy food item with

calorie information versus participants who sampled a healthy food item without calorie

information versus a “no sample” condition. We predicted that those who eat a healthy

food item in the calorie information condition will subsequently report that they feel

hungrier compared to those who eat a healthy food item in the no calorie information

condition or those who do not eat the sample.

Method

Participants and design. 90 undergraduate students (38 women) from Tilburg University

were randomly assigned to the conditions of a 3 (food sample: healthy with calorie

information vs. healthy without calorie information vs. no-sample) between-subjects

design. The participants ranged in age from 18 to 37, with a median age of 22. The

students received financial compensation (7 €) for their participation.

Procedure and Materials. Participants in the sampling conditions were recruited to

participate in a taste test of a Muesli/granola bar that was unwrapped and contained no

identifying information. Participants in the no-sample condition were invited to

participate in a marketing study rating the appearance of the bar. We asked all the

participants in the sampling conditions to taste a sample of the same bar. In the healthy

food item with calorie information condition, participants read that they were about to

taste “a new health bar containing 78 calories, high levels of vitamins and fiber, and no

artificial sweeteners.” In the healthy food item without calorie information condition,

participants read that they were about to taste “a new health bar containing high levels

of vitamins and fiber, and no artificial sweeteners.” Participants in these conditions then

had a 10 gram sample of the bar. Those in the no-sample condition did not complete the

taste test.

Next, in order to assess the strength of the motive to fulfill their appetite, all participants

rated how hungry they were at the present moment (7-point scale; 1 = not at all hungry,

7 = very hungry). Those in the no-sample condition rated their hunger but did not

complete the taste test beforehand. After providing their hunger rating, they continued

to rate how appealing they thought the bar was.

QUESTIONS

1. Is the purpose of Jonathan’s study exploratory in nature, descriptive, or is it to test
hypotheses? Explain.

2a. What is the difference between a causal and a correlational study?
2b. Is Jonathan’s study causal or correlational in nature?
3. There are various degrees of interference in research – minimal, moderate, and

excessive interference. To what extent does Jonathan interfere with the normal flow
of events in his study?

4a. Discuss the differences between a field study, a field experiment, and a lab
experiment.

4b. What type of study is Jonathan’s study? Is it a field study, a field experiment, or a lab
experiment? Explain.

5. What is the ‘unit of analysis’ of Jonathan’s study?
6. Is Jonathan’s study cross-sectional or longitudinal in nature?
7. Discuss the interrelationships between the purpose of Jonathan’s study, the nature of

his study in terms of correlational/causal, Jonathan’s interference with the normal
flow of events, and the type of study in terms of field study, field experiment, and lab
experiment.