Bella the Waitress: A fun hypothesis testing example.

Waitress Bella is on TikTok. She shares her beach looks and hauls, like plenty of other influencers. Recently, though, shared a series of TikToks that have a home in our statistics and research methods classes.

Bella had a hypothesis. She suspected that certain hairstyles influenced her customers to tip her more.

So Bella tested her hypothesis over a series of within-subject, n = 1 experiments at work (Bella, 2022a, Bella, 2022b, Bella, 2022c)

Screen shot of Ella The Scientist/Waitress

This isn't a pre-registered paper with open data, but I think this could be a good discussion piece in a research methods or statistics class.

A comment from Bella's TikTok, in which a viewer tells her to put her data in a spreadsheet.

I swear that Kate isn't my burner account.

If you really, really wanted to test this hypothesis properly, what would that research look like?

1) What external factors influence tips (day of the week, time of day, etc.)?

2) What factors influence reactions to waitstaff (gender, attractiveness, alcohol)?

3) Would you use a within or between research design to study this (different waitstaff with different hair, the same person with different hairstyles)?

4) Create a mocked-up spreadsheet. For example, how would you code for hairstyle (a chance to review scales of measurement)? Day of the week? Tip?

5) Have your students write a testable, formal hypothesis for the hairstyle:tip question.

6) Replication is essential. What exact hairstyles would you need to test?

Comments

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