Effect of Gamification in an Online Grocery Store.

Tufts University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Food Selection; Behavior, Eating; Food Preferences

Treatments: Behavioral: Simulated grocery shopping exercise

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04919668

00001028

Details and patient eligibility

About

The overall objective of this research is to evaluate the impact of gamification on the diet quality of food choices made by American adults in an online grocery shopping experiment. Participants will shop for 12 food items from a grocery shopping list determined by the research team in a simulated online grocery store designed for this experiment. Each product has a nutritional quality score based on the Guiding Stars algorithm. The experiment tests the gamification of the nutritional quality score. Participants exposed to gamification see one to five crowns illustrating the nutritional quality of the food and a scoreboard indicating the total number of crowns from foods in the participant's shopping basket. Participants will be assigned to experimental conditions of gamification (game or no game) and a fictitious budget ($30 or $50). The investigators will test if the game and the budget affect the dietary quality of their final shopping baskets. The experiment is a 2x2 experimental design. The investigators hypothesize that the presence of gamification will change the dietary quality of participants' final shopping baskets. The investigators hypothesize that a higher budget will change the dietary quality of the final shopping basket. The investigators also hypothesize that the game and higher budget together will change the dietary quality of the final shopping basket.

Full description

Participants will be assigned to one of four experimental conditions:

1. Game=No and Budget = $30
2. Game=No and Budget = $50
3. Game=Yes and Budget = $30
4. Game=Yes and Budget = $50.

Variables:

1. Game: Indicates exposure to the game (dummy variable)
2. Budget: Indicates exposure low ($30) or high ($50) budget constraint (dummy variable).
3. Total number of crowns: sum of the number of crowns associated with the 12 items included in participants' final shopping baskets (a continuous variable that ranges from 12 to 60).
4. Number of crowns: number of crowns associated with each of the 12 items included in participants' final shopping baskets separately (a continuous variable that ranges from 1 to 5).

Enrollment: 1,185 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

The investigators will exclude from the analysis:

1. Participants who had more than or less than 12 items in their final shopping cart.
2. Participants who had four or more items from the same food subcategory in the final shopping basket.
3. Participants who spent more than 120% of the budget assigned to them.
4. Aged < 18 years
5. Do not have access to a personal computer, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone.
6. Participants who were not in the US when participating in the study.

Inclusion criteria:

1. Participants who had 12 items in their final shopping cart.
2. Participants who had less than four items from the same food subcategory in their final shopping basket.
3. Participants who spent 120% or less of the budget assigned to them.
4. Aged 18 or older
5. Have access to a personal computer, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone.
6. Participants who were in the US when participating in the study.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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1,185 participants in 4 patient groups

Low budget; no game

Sham Comparator group

Description:

Participants will be asked to shop for 12 list items in the simulated grocery store without game elements (crowns and scoreboards) displayed. They will be given a low budget of $30.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Simulated grocery shopping exercise

High budget; no game

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants will be asked to shop for 12 list items in the simulated grocery store without game elements (crowns and scoreboards) displayed. They will be given a high budget of $50.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Simulated grocery shopping exercise

Low budget; game

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants will be asked to shop for 12 list items in the simulated grocery store with game elements (crowns and scoreboards) displayed. They will be given a low budget of $30.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Simulated grocery shopping exercise

High budget; game

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants will be asked to shop for 12 list items in the simulated grocery store with game elements (crowns and scoreboards) displayed. They will be given a high budget of $50.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Simulated grocery shopping exercise