Question

Do product labels influence customer perceptions? To find out, researchers recruited more than 500 adults and asked them to estimate the number of calories, amount of added sugar, and amount of fat in a variety of food products. Half of the subjects were randomly assigned to evaluate products with the word “Natural” on the label, while the other half were assigned to evaluate the same products without the “Natural” label. On average, the products with the “Natural” label were judged to have significantly fewer calories. Based on this study, is it reasonable to conclude that including the word “Natural” on the label causes a reduction in estimated calories?

(a) No, because the adults weren’t randomly selected from the population of all adults.

(b) No, because there wasn’t a control group for comparison.

(c) No, because association doesn’t imply causation.

(d) Yes, because the adults were randomly assigned to the treatments.

(e) Yes, because there were a large number of adults involved in the study

Short answer

The correct option is (a) No, because the adults weren’t randomly selected from the population of all adults.

Step-by-step solution

Step 1. Introduction

Customer perception is highly influenced or manipulated by the personal experience that a customer had while buying or selling and using a particular product. If the quality, customer service, price, logo, color, discounts, etc. were able to make an excellent impression on the minds of the customers, they would build a good perception of the brand.

Step 2. Explanation for correct option

In this study, researchers want to find out that do the product labels influence customer perception or not. So, they conducted an experiment. Since the experiment does not randomly choose the adults that were selected for the study. Thus, it is not reasonable to conclude that including the word “natural” on the label causes a reduction in estimated calories. So, the option (a) is correct option.