Psychology of the Mess-Maker - Research Paper Example

29 April 2009 Psychology of the Mess-maker Preliminary Question: How many people pick up their tray and empty it in the trash bin after eating at McDonald's Observation: After observing 52 McDonald's customers having a meal between 5 pm and 7:30 pm on 27 April 2009, it was found that 19 customers picked up their trays and emptied them in the trash bin. 8 customers picked up their trays and took them to the bin but did not empty them and instead piled them on the top rack with the litter still on them. 25 customers left their trays on the table. Using the above data implies that 36.53% of the customers I observed, picked up their trays and emptied them. 15.38% of those customers picked up their trays and carried them to the bin but stowed them unemptied and 48.07% did not attempt to pick up their tray or empty it. Preliminary Discussion: Why do some fast food customers leave their food trays on the table Bruce Horovitz of USA Today reported on the gradual abolishing of trays from college cafeterias in the United States. He reports that the energy consumed by washing food trays costs thousands of dollars at any one college venue. However, the understanding of energy for that discussion is electricity. Do fast food customers believe that carrying their trays to the bin is a waste of their energy Theoretically, energy is transferable and for all practical purposes finite, so the points made about saving electricity should apply except that a cleaner or someone else has to do it anyway, so a little thinking renders that argument useless. So, does their argument provide evidence of energy efficiency or plain laziness Furthermore, are fast food customers lazier than the general population because of their diets Is fast food consumption a cause of laziness or an effect of it Maybe the reason is completely different. Perhaps these customers think that if they remove the trays themselves cleaners will lose their jobs Kevin Lim who hosts a show on 99.9 Sun FM has tackled this explanation and believes it to be a complete cover up. His opinion is that such customers are just lazy and that they attempt to take the ethical high ground by stating that their behavior creates jobs for cleaners. A reader commenting on Mr. Lim's post-show blog, complained that if all customers cleared their tables, those tables would never be properly cleaned. In other words, he believes that by not cleaning up after themselves, some fast food customers encourage hygienic attitudes in those restaurants. So, is it laziness, global warming, cleanliness, negligence or absent mindedness that causes customers to act that way Perhaps more importantly, what do these customers themselves admit the reasons are Specific Hypothesis: The majority (>50%) of McDonald's customers who do not pick up their trays and empty them in the trash bin after their meal will not admit that laziness is the reason behind them doing so. Survey: Design: A survey was designed comprising of 5 questions. The target population was identified as the first 30 (n= 30) McDonald's customers who ate their meals and did not pick up their trays or empty them in the provided bin starting 2 pm on 28 April 2009. The survey was to be filled anonymously with no mention of name or contact information. Questions: 1- Are you a frequenter (more than thrice a week) of fast food restaurants Possible Answers: Yes/No 2- Do you believe that people who are frequent (more than thrice a week) fast food customers are lazier than the average population Possible Answers: Yes/No 3- Do you believe a McDonald's customer should pick up his/her tray and empty it into the bin after consuming his/her meal Possible Answers: Yes/No 4- Is laziness the reason that you did not pick up your tray and empty it into the bin Possible Answers: Yes/No 5- The next time you visit McDonald's, would you even consider picking up your tray and emptying it in the trash bin Possible Answers: Yes/No Results: Question 1: Yes: 19 (63.33%) No: 11 (36.67%) Question 2: Yes: 7 (23.33%) No: 23 (76.67%) Question 3: Yes: 18 (60.00%) No: 12 (40.00%) Question 4: Yes: 9 (30.00%) No: 21 (70.00%) Question 5: Yes: 22 (73.33%) No: 8 (26.67%) Discussion As hypothesized, the majority of McDonald's customers dining at a time starting from 2 pm on 28 April 2009 onwards and who did not pick up their trays or empty them in the provided bin(s) did not admit that laziness was the reason. Most of this target population admitted that they were frequenters of fast food restaurants. They rejected the notion that frequenters of fast food restaurants were lazier than the average person. The majority of them believe that trays should be picked up and emptied and that they would consider doing so on their next visit to McDonald's. If one assumes that responses were largely truthful, one can infer that there is a challenge admitting that laziness is the reason for the aforeobserved behavior. If the majority of these customers believe that it is an obligation to clear up after a meal at McDonald's and would consider doing so next time, why do the majority state that laziness is not the reason for not doing so on 28 April 2009 Ethical and philosophical reasoning tends to be more constant than practical restraints. Ethics do not easily change with time and so if the assumption of the majority is that an action should be done (60%), we must look for practical reasons why they preach what they do not practice. The only practical reasons that I find make sense in this situation are laziness and lack of time. It may be possible that time restraints are what caused these customers to act as they did. That may also explain their dependence on fast food for nutrition and their defining themselves as "frequenters". This parameter was not considered prior to designing the survey and is a possible topic for future research. The main concern with the results obtained from this survey is the potential for bias. Because of the conditions under which the survey was conducted, there may be present some significant response bias due to the reasons of respondent social desirability. This assumption is supported by the above analysis of the results obtained and the possible ethical and practical rationales. Works Cited Horovitz, Bruce. "More college cafeterias dump food trays." USA Today 25 July 2008. Lim, Kevin. The Kevin Lim Show. 99.9 FM. Sun FM, Kelowna, British Columbia. 06 Apr. 2007. Lim, Kevin. "Leaving Fast Food Trays and Garbage = Creating Jobs YEAH RIGHT!" Kevin Lim's Blog. 07 Apr. 2007. 99.9 Sun FM. 27 Apr. 2007 . Brown, Michael. "The Trouble with Fast Foods." Science Digest 33 (1986): 30-37. Read More