A new paper from the School of Continuous Improvement compares two places to keep a loaf, finds no difference between them, and sets out the divided-storage provision the University's kitchens now follow.
Seventy-four kitchens kept twelve loaves each in one place or the other, and every University kitchen now keeps each loaf in both
Seventy-four household kitchens, twelve weekly loaves apiece and two places to keep them: the School of Continuous Improvement has published the results of a pre-registered trial that asked whether the bread bin or the fridge sends fewer slices to the kitchen bin. The answer, reported plainly in the paper, is that neither does.
A finding of no difference is still a finding, and it is one the whole kitchen can stand behind.
— Dr Solveig Adeyemi, Lecturer, School of Continuous Improvement
The trial followed each household through a sequence registered before the first loaf was supplied, with households counting what they binned and weighing it on a supplied scale. The team looked at the result from several directions, and the paper sets each of them out without adding to it.
On the strength of the result, the University has adopted a divided-storage provision for every kitchen it runs. Each loaf received is now halved on arrival, with one half kept in the bread bin and one half in the fridge, so that neither place is left to carry the choice alone. The provision applies without exception across kitchen sizes and catering volumes, and is reviewed each year.
Senior Lecturer Thandiwe Solberg, Convenor of Demo Quarter, said the provision “gives every kitchen the same starting point, which is what a standard is for.” The work reflects the University’s continuing commitment to treating the ordinary decisions of a household with the care they have always deserved.
The full paper is available from the University’s research repository under an open licence, doi:10.5555/slop.3sznbg.