This document proposes an experiment to promote healthier eating habits through placing posters of healthy food items on refrigerators. It notes that over 23% of urban Indians with over 10 years of education are overweight. The experiment will provide posters to a treatment group and compare weight and clinic visit outcomes over 6 months between the treatment and control groups. By priming healthier choices and prompting decision making, the posters aim to nudge individuals towards better eating habits without requiring willpower or effort. The analysis will use ANOVA to compare BMI improvements and clinic return rates between the two groups.
2. Context
NFHS 3
(200506)
Residence
Urban
Education
<5 years
No Education complete
Rural
10 years
complete and
above
5-9 years
complete
Women who
are
overweight or
obese (%)
14.8
28.9
8.6
7.6
12.1
18.7
30.7
Men who are
overweight or
obese (%)
12.1
22.2
7.3
3.9
6.3
10.2
23.6
3. Context (continued...)
• 23.6% of men and 30.7 % of women in India
according to National Family Health Survey
(NFHS) 2006 who reside in urban regions and
have completed more than 10 years of
education are overweight or obese
• Therefore these Sophisticates residing in
Indian Cities are the target of the research
4. Bottlenecks in Conventional Health
program:
Awareness of
the problem
• unwillingness to
change the
behaviour
• individual’s tendency
to maintain a Status
Quo
Planning
• Inability to select a
diet that suits the
individual
Implementation
• willpower of the
individual is limited
• Losing self-control
and motivation
Feedback and
reinforcement
• Forgetting the
regular appointment
5. Nudge
• Placing pictures of healthier items on the door
of the refrigerator and the door of the freezer
portion (inside the refrigerator).
• Individuals in Treatment group receive the
nudge
• Treatment group individuals must send a
photo of attaching the poster on their
refrigerator as proof
6. Principle 1
• Priming Effect:
– Priming is an implicit memory effect in which
exposure to a stimulus influences a response to a
later stimulus. Whenever an individual sees a
healthier option that is highlighted, there is a
higher chance of him/her picking a healthier
option.
(http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2012/07/se
eing-certain-foods-prompts-kids-eat-healthier)
7. Principle 2
• Decision Points:
– Seeing the picture motivates an individual to lose
weight on the door of the refrigerator, prompts
the individual to make an active choice to avoid or
indulge, this according to me is enough for an
individual to take a more rational approach and
avoid indulging in.
8. Experiment
• Type
– Field Experiment (Two Conditions Experiment)
• Factors
– Higher improvement in weight.
– Increased return rate to the health clinic.
• Levels
– Two levels – Control and Treatment
• Sample
– Visitors to general health clinic who require a diet plan, 50
for each level, and every 10 participants will be chosen
from 5 different clinics in Chennai and Bangalore.
– Total = 100 participants
9. Analysis
• Effect on rate of visiting the clinic in the 6
month periods.
• Effect on BMI improvements achieved in the
period of experiment.
• Analysis is done on ANOVA.
