A new research poster from the School of Emergent Priorities reports that switching a supermarket's leafy-greens mister on and off does not change how much is bought, and the University now holds every produce mister at its found setting.
A twenty-six-week alternating-weeks trial in four supermarkets finds no difference in the greens bought, and any change of setting now needs a trial of its own
A mister over the leafy greens can be switched on or off without changing how much of them is bought, and the University has taken that as grounds to leave every one it manages exactly as it stands. Measuring the Mist, a new research poster from the School of Emergent Priorities, reports twenty-six weeks in four supermarkets, in which each store’s produce manager switched the overhead sprayer on and off in alternating weeks and the till recorded the same weight of greens leaving the shelf either way.
A finding that asks nothing further of us is a rare thing to be handed, and we intend to look after it.
— Dr Iben Chikere, Lecturer, School of Emergent Priorities
The poster sets the trial out with the plainness the result deserves. Outcomes, week order and analysis were fixed before the first Monday, and the estimate is reported as found. On the strength of it, each produce mister on University premises is now recorded as a fixed installation, and none is switched, re-aimed or re-timed without a twenty-six-week alternating-weeks trial of its own.
Dr Joost Nwosu, Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Continuous Improvement, said the design drew its confidence from the humblest part of the apparatus: “The switch is the same switch in every store, and that made it a pleasure to measure.”
Settling a question is a contribution of its own kind, and the University is glad to enter this one in the record, small and in good order. The full poster is available from the University’s research repository under an open licence, doi:10.5555/slop.vadnh7.