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What color of icing on a

doughnut is more
appetizing?

...
An experiment was conducted to determine if a certain doughnut icing color
was more appetizing than the others. A chi-squared goodness of fit test
was conducted to analyze the data.

...
Kate Stankiewicz

...
LASA D/C Statistics
2015-2016
Period 6
5/21/16

Contents
A. Analytical Report ................................................................................................................... 3
B. Graphs................................................................................................................................... 8
C. Data ...................................................................................................................................... 9
D. R code ..................................................................................................................................10
E. Works Cited ..........................................................................................................................11
F. Simple Random Sample .......................................................................................................12
G. Signatures ............................................................................................................................16
H. Website Link .........................................................................................................................19
I. Revised Inquiry Pitch .............................................................................................................20
J. Original Inquiry Pitch .............................................................................................................23
K. Rough Draft of Analytical Report...........................................................................................26
L. Peer Review..........................................................................................................................32

A. Analytical Report
Studies have shown that colors of rooms can affect mood, including the color of a
kitchen, which can make you feel more or less hungry. Can the color of food affect
appetite, or specifically icing color? This experiment was conducted to figure out if the
color of icing has an effect on which donut someone chooses, linking it to their appetite
for that color.
M & Ms didnt originally come in the color blue, but after letting fans vote, it was
quickly added (Morton). The new color was put up to vote in the first place because blue
is an appetite suppressant, resulting in an increase of the potential for people to eat
more (Morton). Blue plates, blue table cloths, and blue dining lighting have proven to
reduce a persons appetite, which is why weight loss plans suggest taking advantage of
this color and its effects on the brain and stomach (Breyer). This effect is due to the lack
of naturally blue foods. Few berries and uncommon potatoes are pretty much all thats
edible and naturally blue, so there is not an automatic appetite for blue things, in fact
dietary instincts turn people away from consuming blue foods (Breyer). Because people
subconsciously assign tastes to colors, different people may choose specific colors
which they have personally made connections to good tastes (Breyer).
If food isn't its typical or expected color, the brain is tricked into thinking that it will
also taste different, perhaps not as good since it isn't what was expected (How).
Because we see the food before we taste it, our eyes send signals to the brain before
the taste buds can, predetermining how the food should taste too, leading to a confused
and perhaps unhappy stomach once the food has actually been consumed (How).

Because blue is known to be an appetite suppressant, the hypothesis was that


fewer people would choose this color. Because green and black doughnuts are also
rare, this color of icing might be unexpected, repulsing people from these colors too.
This hypothesis also seems fitting because the population was LASA seniors, and
teenagers are typically very picky and judgmental when it comes to everything,
including food, so strangely colored doughnuts might turn them away.
This experiment was developed with the intention on determining the most and
least preferred color of doughnut icing, which would help bakeries and doughnut shops
sell more because they could attract more customers with the proper icing colors. The
results could also help find out what colors are less appetizing which could be used in
diets, leading to people eating less or decreasing their cravings.
The sample population was selected by creating a numbered, alphabetized list of
LASA seniors by first name, then using an online random number generator that
randomly generated numbers from 1 to 245.The senior in that number place on the list
was then shown them a box of doughnuts. There were 9 doughnuts, each iced with a
different color, pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black, and white. The
subject was told to pick out the doughnut they liked the most or found the most
appetizing. Although each doughnut was flavored exactly the same, the only difference
being the color of the icing, the subjects were not told this because it would interfere
with the perceived flavor or quality of the doughnut based on icing color. If the seniors
had been informed of the lack of different flavors, they may have just selected their
favorite color, eliminating the element of associated flavors or preference for food of
certain colors. After a doughnut was selected and taken by the student, the color was

recorded. After each doughnut was removed, an identical one was replaced so that the
next person would have all of the same color options. This was repeated 45 times,
collecting 45 observations. The overall population was supposed to be high schoolers,
but only seniors were randomly selected, so the population is defined as only LASA
seniors. A few selected seniors werent found, didnt have Facebook to be contacted by,
or didnt respond to the message on Facebook that was sent to them asking for their
participation in this experiment. Thus there was a nonresponse bias and a few new
seniors had to be randomly selected to be tested.
A goodness of fit chi-squared test was appropriate because there was only one
categorical variable, color, for one population, LASA seniors. The goal was also to
determine if the expected and observed counts for each icing color were significantly
different. The sample as random as possible, within the time constraints and availability
of students at school (some were absent when the experiment was being performed
and again were difficult to contact). The doughnuts were replaced with the correct icing
as they were taken and sampled each person individually, preventing any observations
from affecting one another. Because the sample size was 45, and there are 9 icing color
options, the expected count for each factor is 5, meeting the expected count condition.
A significance level or alpha value of 0.05 was chosen because that is the
standard for chi-squared goodness of fit tests, is preset in Rstudio, and gives a test
statistics that are reasonably accurate, with minimal room for error. The null hypothesis
is that the observed distribution of each doughnut icing color chosen is the same as the
expected. The alternative hypothesis is that the distribution is different than expected.
There are 8 degrees of freedom because there are 9 different factors/colors.

The chi-statistic was 21.2, placing it out of the critical region because the chisquared value was 15.51. This calls to reject the null hypothesis which said all of the
icing colors would have equal distributions. The p-value of 0.0066, which is less than
0.05, is more proof of sufficient evidence leading to the rejection of the null. Therefore it
can be concluded that at least one color of icing was chosen significantly more or less
than the others. Doughnuts with light blue icing were chosen 12 times, while green was
only chosen once. The mean and median number of doughnuts selected per color were
both 5, so blue is an outlier because it lies outside of the IQR range which has a
maximum value of 10.5. However, green lies within the range, so it isnt as significantly
different.
From this experiment and chi-squared goodness of fit test, it can be concluded
that blue is a more appetizing color, which was unexpected considering the background
research that was performed claiming that blue was a less desirable color for food to be.
Perhaps this is because the appetite suppressing characteristics of blue people think
they arent as full and have more room for the doughnut in their stomach or that theyll
be able to eat more doughnuts. Although green wasnt chosen significantly less, it can
almost be concluded that green is not a very appetizing color for doughnuts to be
because only one person chose it and he was bias because green is his favorite color, it
wasnt necessarily the most appetizing to him. Brown, pink, and white were the next
three most popular colors. This could be because doughnuts usually come with icing in
these colors, brown for chocolate, pink for typically strawberry, and white for vanilla or
cream inside. These colors are also often associated with chocolate, strawberry, and
vanilla in other things, such as ice cream, jelly beans, cake, etc. People have

subconsciously made the connections between these colors and flavors, making them
prefer them to the others which may be more unusual to them.
Other than the favorite color bias, which was also apparent with the black icing,
both of the subjects told me afterwards that they just chose it because they like the
color, the craftsmanship of the icing job or doughnut may have played a role in which
doughnut someone chose. The blue iced doughnuts were in the very center of the box,
were very smooth and evenly iced, and were one of the more vibrant colors,
immediately catching peoples attention, which possibly may have contributed to the
very high number of people who chose it.
Doughnut shops and bakeries can use this data to attract more customers or to
increase the number of doughnuts each customer buys by decorating the doughnuts
with pleasing colors. The shops can learn that blue icing is much more popular, along
with brown, pink, and white, than green, black, and orange. However, if this test
produced a type I error, then these bakeries and shops would end up icing too many
doughnuts blue, and not enough of other colors, which may result in unsatisfied
customers if the color they wanted isnt available or was sold out.
If this test were to be conducted again, subjects should also be asked what their
favorite color is to make sure that the two arent related because it could interfere with
the analysis of determining the association between color and appetite. However, the
sample size was large enough that the outliers had little effect on the results. A bigger
sample size would be even more accurate though, eliminating more bias.

B. Graphs

C. Data

D. R code
> colortab <- table(donut$Color)
> colortab
black blue brown green orange pink purple white
2
12
6
1
2
7
2
8
yellow
5
> ExpColor <-c(1/9,1/9, 1/9, 1/9, 1/9,1/9,1/9,1/9,1/9)
> chisq.test(colortab, p=ExpColor)$expected
black blue brown green orange pink purple white
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
yellow
5
> chisq.test(colortab, p=ExpColor)
Chi-squared test for given probabilities
data: colortab
X-squared = 21.2, df = 8, p-value = 0.006635
> barplot(colortab, main="Doughnut Icing Color", xlab="Icing Color",
ylab="Frequency", col=c('black','lightskyblue', 'chocolate','chartreuse3',
'darkorange','indianred1','darkorchid3','white','yellow' ))
> hist(donut2$Frequency, breaks=seq(0,12,1), main="Distribution of the Frequencies
of Doughnuts Chosen", xlab="Number of Times the Color was Chosen")

E. Works Cited
Breyer, Melissa. "How Color Affects Your Appetite." Care2 Healthy Living. Care2, 8
Nov. 2015. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
"How Color Affects Your Perception of Food." Konica Minolta. Konica Minolta Sensing
Americas Inc., 2016. Web. 2 Apr. 2016.
Morton, Jill L., Prof. "Color & Appetite Matters: Blue M&Ms." Color & Appetite Matters. J.
L. Morton, 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.

F. Simple Random Sample

G. Signatures

H. Website Link
http://doughnutcolors.weebly.com/

I. Revised Inquiry Pitch

Does icing color affect


appetite?
...
Inquiry Pitch

...
Kate Stankiewicz
...
LASA D/C Statistics
2015-2016
Period 6
5/5/16

Can the color of food affect appetite, or specifically icing color? Studies have
shown that colors of rooms can affect mood, including the color of a kitchen, which can
make you feel more or less hungry. Im interested to know if the color of icing has an
effect on which donut someone chooses, linking it to their appetite for that color.
M & Ms didnt originally come in the color blue, but after letting fans vote, it was
quickly added. The new color was put up to vote in the first place because blue is an
appetite suppressant, resulting in an increase of the potential for people to eat more
(Morton). Blue plates and dining lighting have proven to reduce a persons appetite,
which is why weight loss plans suggest taking advantage of this color and its effects on
the brain and stomach. This effect is due to the lack of naturally blue foods. Few berries
and uncommon potatoes are pretty much all thats edible and naturally blue, so we dont
have an automatic appetite for blue things, infact instincts turn people away (Breyer).
Because people subconsciously assign tastes to colors, different people may choose
specific colors which they have personally made connections to good tastes (Breyer).
I will randomly select 40 LASA seniors, by using a numbered alphabetical list of
all LASA seniors attending during the school year 2015-2016 and randomly selecting
them with a random number generator. Ill offer them a variety of iced glazed donuts,
with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, and white icing, one color per
pastry. I will then record which color they choose. There will be no bias because the
sample will be random, no individuals choice will affect anothers because I will replace
the donut of that color, and there will be no expected counts of less than 5 because
there are 8 colors and 40 samples.

Because there is only one categorical variable, color of icing, and one population,
LASA seniors, I will run a chi-squared goodness of fit test. My null hypothesis will be
that the population distribution of color of donut chosen is the same as the proposed
distribution, that they are all the same. My alternate hypothesis is that at least one donut
icing color distribution is different.
This experiment will provide me with evidence to decide whether or not the color
of icing on a donut affects a persons appetite, which I find very interesting. It could
potentially inform people on what colors to avoid when eating, if they like eating a
certain color more. I may encounter issues with people not being hungry, leading them
to choose a different donut color than they normally might.

Works Cited
Breyer, Melissa. "How Color Affects Your Appetite." Care2 Healthy Living. Care2, 8
Nov. 2015. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
Morton, Jill L., Prof. "Color & Appetite Matters: Blue M&Ms." Color & Appetite Matters.
J. L. Morton, 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.

J. Original Inquiry Pitch

Does shirt color affect


appetite?
...
Inquiry Pitch

...
Kate Stankiewicz
...
LASA D/C Statistics
2015-2016
Period 6
4/11/16

Can something so little, such as T-shirt color, affect your appetite throughout the
day? Studies have shown that colors of rooms can affect mood, including the color of a
kitchen, which can make you feel more or less hungry. Im interested to know if
something you see out of the corner of your eye all day can have the same effect.
M & Ms didnt originally come in the color blue, but after letting fans vote, it was
quickly added. The new color was put up to vote in the first place because blue is an
appetite suppressant (Morton). Blue plates, dining lighting, and food have all proven to
reduce a persons appetite, which is why weight loss plans suggest taking advantage of
this color and its effects on the brain and stomach. This effect is due to the lack of
naturally blue foods. Few berries and uncommon potatoes are pretty much all thats
edible and naturally blue, so we dont have an automatic appetite for blue things, infact
instincts turn people away (Breyer). This might mean that on days I wear a blue shirt my
appetite will be lower than most other colors. Because people subconsciously assign
tastes to colors, I think shirt color could also affect hunger this way (Breyer).
To minimize the variables of different people, their different metabolisms and
different color preferences, I will only be performing this experiment on myself. I will
keep a log of the color of shirt I am wearing each day for a few weeks, making sure to
wear red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple an equal number of times throughout
the data collecting period, meaning that the data will not be random, but that each color
will be equally represented or tested. Each day I will rate my appetite at lunch and
dinner on a scale of 1-10, 1 being not wanting the food at the appropriate meal time, 10
being wanting food earlier and being very hungry when the meal time arrives. This
means that one variable is categorical and the other is quantitative, therefore I shall

conduct an ANOVA test. There are also more than 2 colors of shirt that I will be
wearing, so this test is the most appropriate. My null hypothesis is that the true mean of
hunger is equal for every color of shirt. The alternate hypothesis is that at least one shirt
color has a different mean hunger level. I will need to report the the degrees of freedom
of each category, the F-critical and F-statistic, the p-value, and the Tukey results if the
test results reject the null hypothesis. These measures will appropriately demonstrate
the relationship of the means of hunger level between the different shirts.
I will eat equal proportions over this time and make sure that each meal is at the
same time, not changing how full my stomach is from day to day and shirt to shirt, which
could potentially lead to incorrect data and questionable results. Another issue could be
the amount of activity I perform a certain day, but since lacrosse is over, I think my
activity levels throughout the week should be uniform and not greatly influence my
appetite.
This experiment will provide me with evidence to decide whether or not the color
of shirt Im wearing affects my appetite, which I find very interesting. It could potentially
help me control my hunger level, making it stay low or high, if Id ever need to. The only
issues I may encounter is variation of activity level and meal size.

Works Cited
Breyer, Melissa. "How Color Affects Your Appetite." Care2 Healthy Living. Care2, 8
Nov. 2015. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
Morton, Jill L., Prof. "Color & Appetite Matters: Blue M&Ms." Color & Appetite Matters.
J. L. Morton, 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.

K. Rough Draft of Analytical Report

Does icing color affect


appetite?
...
Analytical Report

...
Kate Stankiewicz
...
LASA D/C Statistics
2015-2016
Period 6
5/14/16

Contents
Analytical Report .......................................................................................................................28
Graphs ........................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
R code ........................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Works Cited ................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Simple Random Sample ............................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

Analytical Report
Can the color of food affect appetite, or specifically icing color? Studies have
shown that colors of rooms can affect mood, including the color of a kitchen, which can
make you feel more or less hungry. Im interested to know if the color of icing has an
effect on which donut someone chooses, linking it to their appetite for that color.
M & Ms didnt originally come in the color blue, but after letting fans vote, it was
quickly added. The new color was put up to vote in the first place because blue is an
appetite suppressant, resulting in an increase of the potential for people to eat more
(Morton). Blue plates and dining lighting have proven to reduce a persons appetite,
which is why weight loss plans suggest taking advantage of this color and its effects on
the brain and stomach. This effect is due to the lack of naturally blue foods. Few berries
and uncommon potatoes are pretty much all thats edible and naturally blue, so we dont
have an automatic appetite for blue things, infact instincts turn people away (Breyer).
Because people subconsciously assign tastes to colors, different people may choose
specific colors which they have personally made connections to good tastes (Breyer).
If food isn't its typical or expected color, the brain is tricked into thinking that it will
also taste different, perhaps not as good since it isn't what was expected. Because we
see the food before we taste it, our eyes send signals to the brain before the taste buds
can, predetermining how the food should taste too, leading to a confused and perhaps
unhappy stomach once the food has actually been consumed. (How)
Because blue is known to be an appetite suppressant, my hypothesis was that
fewer people would choose this color. I also thought that because I had never seen a
green or black doughnut before, it might be unexpected, repulsing people from these
colors too. My hypothesis also seems fitting because I randomly sampled LASA seniors,

and teenagers are typically very picky and judgmental when it comes to everything,
including food. I thought that finding the results of this experiment would be interesting
in helping monitor diets, finding the less appetizing colors for a pastry many often crave,
perhaps decreasing the craving.
I selected my sample population by creating a numbered, alphabetized list of
LASA seniors by first name. My overall population was supposed to be high schoolers,
but because I only randomly selected from the list of seniors, the population has to be
defined as only LASA seniors. I couldnt find a few of the people I randomly selected, so
I messaged them on Facebook, but some also didnt have a Facebook, so those whom I
randomly selected to participate that I didnt get an observation for lead my data to have
a nonresponse bias. I then used an online random number generator that randomly
generated numbers from 1 to 245. I then found the senior in that place on the list, and
showed them a box of doughnuts. There were 9 doughnuts, each iced with a different
color, pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black, and white. I then told them
to pick out the doughnut they liked the most or found the most appetizing. After they
took one, I recorded what color they chose, then replaced it with one of the same color
so that the next person would have all of the same color options. I repeated this 45
times, collecting 45 observations.
I chose to run a goodness of fit chi-squared test because there was only one
categorical variable, color, for one population, LASA seniors. I was also looking to
determine if the expected and observed counts for each icing color were significantly
different. As far as conditions go, I made my sample as random as possible, within the
time constraints and availability of students at school (some were absent when I tried to

perform my experiment on them and didnt have Facebook for me to contact them
through). I replaced the doughnuts with the correct icing as they were taken and
sampled each person individually, preventing any observations from affecting one
another. Because the sample size was 45, and there are 9 icing color options, the
expected count for each factor is 5, meeting the expected count condition.
I chose to use a significance level or alpha value of 0.05 because that is the
standard, is preset in Rstudio, and gives a little more wiggle room, but not too much
than a higher or lower value would. The null hypothesis is that the observed distribution
is the same as the expected. The alternative hypothesis is that the distribution is
different than expected. There are 8 degrees of freedom because there are 9 different
factors/colors.
The chi-statistic was 21.2, placing it out of the critical region which begins at with
15.51. This means that we can reject the null hypothesis that said all of the icing colors
had equal distributions. The p-value of 0.0066, which is less than 0.05, is more proof of
sufficient evidence allowing us to reject the null. Therefore we can conclude that at least
one color of icing was chosen significantly more or less than the others. Doughnuts with
light blue icing were chosen 12 times, while green was only chosen once. The mean
and median number of doughnuts selected per color were both 5, so blue is an outlier
because it lies outside of the IQR range which has a maximum value of 10.5. However,
green lies within the range, so it isnt as significantly different.
From this experiment and chi-squared goodness of fit test, I have concluded that
blue is a more appetizing color, unlike I expected. Perhaps this is because people think
they arent as full and have more room for the doughnut in their stomach or that theyll

be able to eat more doughnuts. Im also going to conclude that green is not a very
appetizing color because only one person chose it and he was bias because green is
his favorite color.

L. Peer Review

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