Effect of Gamification in an Online Grocery Store.

September 29, 2021 updated by: Sean Cash, Tufts University

The Effect of Gamification in an Online Grocery Store Experiment on Food Selection: a Randomized Controlled Trial

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.

Study Overview

Detailed 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).

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

1185

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02111
        • Tufts University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

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.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: PREVENTION
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: DOUBLE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
SHAM_COMPARATOR: Low budget; no game
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.
Participants will click a link and simulate an online grocery shopping experience by selecting items for 12 grocery categories.
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: High budget; no game
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.
Participants will click a link and simulate an online grocery shopping experience by selecting items for 12 grocery categories.
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: Low budget; game
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.
Participants will click a link and simulate an online grocery shopping experience by selecting items for 12 grocery categories.
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: High budget; game
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.
Participants will click a link and simulate an online grocery shopping experience by selecting items for 12 grocery categories.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Total number of crowns
Time Frame: One hour
Sum of number of crowns of foods included in the final shopping basket for each participant
One hour

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of crowns
Time Frame: One hour
Number of crowns for foods included in final shopping basket for each list item separately
One hour

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Total Guiding Stars points
Time Frame: One hour
Sum of Guiding Stars points from foods included in the final shopping basket for each participant
One hour
Guiding Stars points
Time Frame: One hour
Number of Guiding Stars points for foods included in final shopping basket for each list item separately
One hour

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (ACTUAL)

June 30, 2021

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

July 28, 2021

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

July 28, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 27, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 8, 2021

First Posted (ACTUAL)

June 9, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

October 1, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 29, 2021

Last Verified

September 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 00001028

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Deidentified individual participant data collected in this experiment will be shared upon reasonable request.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Beginning 9 months and ending 36 months following article publication, or as required by a condition of awards and agreements supporting the research.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Data will be available upon reasonable request. Proposals may be submitted up to 36 months of article publication. After 36 months, the data will be available at Tufts University data warehouse but without investigator support other than deposited metadata.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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