Regional project · Citizen science research
Citizen science and food consumption
In-person studies in Zaragoza on how we choose which food to buy, carried out with CITA Aragon
About the project
Between 2015 and 2017, Ibercivis worked with the Agrifood Economics Unit of the Agrifood Research and Technology Centre of Aragon (CITA) on a series of studies on food purchasing and consumption decisions.
Each study involved an in-person session in Zaragoza lasting between 15 and 60 minutes. Volunteers chose between products, stated their preferences, filled in questionnaires and, in some cases, tasted food. They received a small payment as a thank-you.
As the studies themselves explained, this was not marketing or sales research. The aim was to see how science can help improve people’s wellbeing.
Sessions were held at the Demo TIC Logistics Centre of the Aragon Institute of Technology, in the R&D&I building on the Río Ebro Campus, at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zaragoza, at Etopia and at the Universidad de la Experiencia (the University’s programme for older learners).
Project objectives
- Study how labelling and nutrition and health claims influence purchasing decisions.
- Find out consumer preferences for products such as biscuits, yoghurts, cereals, olive oil, crisps and toast.
- Assess whether these messages can be an effective tool for improving buying and eating habits.
The role of Ibercivis
The studies were led by CITA, with researchers Azucena Gracia and Tiziana de Magistris. Fundación Ibercivis was responsible for recruiting participants: it promoted each call, managed registrations and time slots, and made sure the groups matched the profiles (age, gender, level of education) requested by the research team.
Our activities
- A page for each study on the Ibercivis website, with requirements, times and venues.
- Recruitment of volunteers according to the population stratification requested.
- Management of bookings and time slots for the in-person sessions.
- Media outreach: the biscuit study appeared in Prensa Unizar, Heraldo de Aragón and Educaragón, and the supermarket study was also covered in the press.
The studies
- Olive oil tastings: olive oil tastings in which participants rated the value for money of each sample, to categorise how people choose this product (February, probably 2015).
- N!UTRI: a Marie Curie project on nutrition, health and obesity. Using a simulated shopping task with images of products (crisps or toast), it studied whether messages such as ‘low fat’ or ‘low salt’, together with price, affect purchasing decisions.
- CLYMBOL: as part of the European CLYMBOL project on nutrition, it studied the influence of labelling on consumer behaviour based on preferences for different breakfast cereals (June 2015).
- Biscuits: an in-person survey on buying biscuits, with a choice between packets and a short questionnaire; most places were reserved for people over 65 (November 2015).
- Yoghurts: it studied preferences for different nutrition and health information on yoghurts, with eye tracking during the choice and, in some cases, tasting (November 2016).
- Supermarket: it studied preferences for nutrition and health information on food (yoghurts, soft cheese and crisps) through questionnaires on shopping habits and choices between products (November 2017).
Gallery
Project details
Type of project
Regional
Duration
2015 – 2017
Consortium
Agrifood Research and Technology Centre of Aragon (CITA, Government of Aragon) and Fundación Ibercivis
Area
Citizen science research