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This readme file was generated on 2024-10-31 by Liheng Xu

GENERAL INFORMATION

Title of Dataset: Data and Survey Questionnaires for "From Effort to Free: the Zero-Price Effect in Non-Monetary Contexts"

Author/Principal Investigator Information
Name: Liheng Xu
ORCID: 0009-0001-7435-3007
Institution: New York University
Email: lx2035@nyu.edu

Author/Associate/Co-investigator/Collaborator Information
Name: Yisroel Cahn
ORCID: 0000-0002-3537-4577
Institution: New York University
Email: yisroel.cahn@nyu.edu

Name: Bining Yang
Institution: New York University
Email: by2106@nyu.edu

Date of data collection: 2024-06-01 to 2024-07-30

Geographic location of data collection: 70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012

Funding sources: Dean's Undergraduate Research Fund, College of Arts and Sciences, New York University, award number 3662686496

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SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION

Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Links to publications that cite or use the data:

Recommended citation for this dataset: Xu, L., Cahn, Y., & Yang, B. (2024). Data and Survey Questionnaires for "From Effort to Free: the Zero-Price Effect in Non-Monetary Contexts" [Data set]. New York University. https://doi.org/10.58153/9yxx4-fzp66

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DATA & FILE OVERVIEW

File List:
- experimental_data.csv - Main dataset capturing participant responses across all experimental conditions.
- preliminary_study_data.csv - Data from the preliminary survey, gauging hypothetical preferences between Hershey's and Lindt under varying conditions.
- PreliminarySurveyVersion1.pdf - Survey version from the preliminary study presenting a hypothetical 1 vs 6 question condition.
- PreliminarySurveyVersion2.pdf - Survey version from the preliminary study presenting a hypothetical 0 vs 5 question condition.
- PreliminarySurveyVersion3.pdf - Survey version from the preliminary study presenting a hypothetical 0 vs 3 question condition.
- OneQuestionExperimentSurvey.pdf - Survey for the experimental condition where participants complete 1 question to receive Hershey's chocolate.
- ThreeQuestionExperimentSurvey.pdf - Survey for the experimental condition where participants complete 3 questions to receive Lindt chocolate.
- FiveQuestionExperimentSurvey.pdf - Survey for the experimental condition where participants complete 5 questions to receive Lindt chocolate.
- SixQuestionExperimentSurvey.pdf - Survey for the experimental condition where participants complete 6 questions to receive Lindt chocolate.

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METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION

Description of methods used for collection/generation of data: Data were collected during a controlled experiment at NYU, where participants selected between two chocolates (Hershey's Kisses and Lindt Truffles) under various conditions that altered effort requirements to examine the Zero-Price Effect (ZPE) in non-monetary contexts. Each participant's choice was manually recorded on paper as "HK" (Hershey's), "LT" (Lindt), or "N" (neither), with tally marks used to track counts. After each session, these tallies were transferred to a digital format for analysis. The final dataset is presented at the individual level, with each row corresponding to a participant's selection, allowing for reproducibility without including any identifiable information. Notably, the Participant IDs in the dataset are organized by the participants' choices, with all Hershey's, Lindt, and neither selections grouped together, to maintain anonymity and prevent any inference of participant sequence.

Methods for processing the data: The raw data from paper tallies were digitized into two structured CSV files: one for the preliminary survey data (60 participants) and one for the main experiment data (399 participants). Each row represents a unique participant's choice in these spreadsheets. To preserve anonymity, Participant IDs were assigned based on choice grouping rather than order of participation. Following the creation of these files, summary statistics tables were generated to provide an overview of selection frequencies across conditions. Two-tailed t-tests and Chi-Square tests were performed based on these summary statistics.

Environmental/experimental conditions: 1) nominal effort cost (1 vs. 6 questions), where participants completed 1 question for Hershey's or 6 for Lindt; (2) a free option with effort for the alternative (0 vs. 5 questions), where Hershey's was free and Lindt required 5 questions; and (3) a free option with reduced effort for the alternative (0 vs. 3 questions), with Hershey's free and Lindt requiring 3 questions. In addition, a preliminary survey was conducted, where participants indicated hypothetical preferences between Hershey's and Lindt under these same conditions

Describe any quality-assurance procedures performed on the data: After manually recording participants' choices, all data entries were cross-checked for accuracy during digital transcription

People involved with sample collection, processing, analysis and/or submission: Liheng Xu, Yisroel Cahn, Bining Yang

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DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: preliminary_study_data.csv

Number of variables: 4

Number of cases/rows: 60

Variable List:
- participant_id: A unique identifier for each participant. IDs are grouped by participants' choices and do not imply order of participation.
- condition: The experimental condition assigned to each participant. This categorical variable has values "1vs6," "0vs5," or "0vs3," representing different effort requirements for selecting each chocolate option.
- hershey: A binary variable indicating if the participant chose Hershey's (1 = Yes, 0 = No).
- lindt: A binary variable indicating if the participant chose Lindt (1 = Yes, 0 = No).
- neither: A binary variable indicating if the participant chose neither option (1 = Yes, 0 = No).

DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: experimental_data.csv

Number of variables: 4

Number of cases/rows: 399