Shop For Success: Experimental Grocery Store Study
Shop For Success: Experimental Grocery Store Study
The purpose of this research is to study how the price of foods affects food buying choices
 at the grocery store. The researchers are interested in this topic because the price of foods
 can have a big impact on what people choose to buy and prices change over time. The
 researchers are doing this study to see how changes in food prices affect what foods mothers
 choose for their families.
It is well known that the price of a given food affects the amount of that food an individual
 purchases. However, little is known about how specific groups, such as overweight/obese and
 those with lower incomes, change their food purchasing decisions depending on food price
 changes. Evidence has shown that these groups have lower quality diets and worse health
 outcomes than their normal weight and higher income counterparts. Therefore, it is important
 to gain a better understanding of how food price changes affect purchasing decisions among
 these populations in order to develop targeted nutrition interventions to improve their diet
 quality. To investigate this, the researchers will create a laboratory-based grocery store,
 in which pictures of foods will be used to substitute actual food. Food prices will be
 indicated on each picture. Participants will be given play money and a budget, and ask them
 to "purchase" foods in the mock grocery store. The price of food will be changed throughout
 the study to investigate how participants change their purchasing decisions based on these
 price changes.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Have at least one child up to 18 years of age residing in the household

 -  Primary grocery shopper for the household

 -  No health conditions or food practices that substantially limit food choice

 -  Not currently pregnant

 -  Consent to the study design

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  Male

 -  < 18 years of age

 -  Not a mother, or children not living with subject in their household

 -  No children below the age of 18 years of age

 -  Not the primary grocery shopper for their household

 -  Health conditions or food practices that substantially limit food choice

 -  Currently pregnant