The Effect of Gender on Purchasing Habits Among Adolescents

School Name

Heathwood Hall Episcopal School

Grade Level

10th Grade

Presentation Topic

Consumer Science

Presentation Type

Non-Mentored

Abstract

The purpose of this experiment was to examine the purchasing habits and behavior among adolescents with respect to gender. It was hypothesized that female adolescents would show to be more price and experience oriented on certain purchases while male adolescents would make more efficient and need-based purchases. For this study, the independent variable was gender, with the dependent variables being purchasing habits. To conduct this experiment, surveys (surveys had three sections: clothing, food, and entertainment) were created and administered to adolescents ranging from ages thirteen to sixteen. The surveys were then assessed in order to categorize each subject as either a price-shopper, an experience-shopper, a need-based shopper, or a loyal shopper. The data was then analyzed graphically and inferentially. It was found that, overall, there were actually more male experience-shoppers than there were female, and more female need-based shoppers than male, yet there were still more female price-shoppers than male price-shoppers. A single factor ANOVA test determined that there was no statistical significance in the difference between overall male and female purchasing habits. However, each individual section had somewhat different results, with the clothing section containing far more male need-based shoppers and far more female experience-shoppers, and fully supported the hypothesis. Food--while there are more male need-based shoppers--contains more male experience-shoppers than female. And lastly, entertainment contained far more female loyal shoppers and more male experience-shoppers. Nevertheless, the ANOVA tests ran on each of these sections showed the relationship between gender and purchasing habits to be statistically insignificant. Ultimately, my hypothesis failed to be supported.

Location

Founders Hall 255 A

Start Date

3-30-2019 10:45 AM

Presentation Format

Oral and Written

Group Project

No

COinS
 
Mar 30th, 10:45 AM

The Effect of Gender on Purchasing Habits Among Adolescents

Founders Hall 255 A

The purpose of this experiment was to examine the purchasing habits and behavior among adolescents with respect to gender. It was hypothesized that female adolescents would show to be more price and experience oriented on certain purchases while male adolescents would make more efficient and need-based purchases. For this study, the independent variable was gender, with the dependent variables being purchasing habits. To conduct this experiment, surveys (surveys had three sections: clothing, food, and entertainment) were created and administered to adolescents ranging from ages thirteen to sixteen. The surveys were then assessed in order to categorize each subject as either a price-shopper, an experience-shopper, a need-based shopper, or a loyal shopper. The data was then analyzed graphically and inferentially. It was found that, overall, there were actually more male experience-shoppers than there were female, and more female need-based shoppers than male, yet there were still more female price-shoppers than male price-shoppers. A single factor ANOVA test determined that there was no statistical significance in the difference between overall male and female purchasing habits. However, each individual section had somewhat different results, with the clothing section containing far more male need-based shoppers and far more female experience-shoppers, and fully supported the hypothesis. Food--while there are more male need-based shoppers--contains more male experience-shoppers than female. And lastly, entertainment contained far more female loyal shoppers and more male experience-shoppers. Nevertheless, the ANOVA tests ran on each of these sections showed the relationship between gender and purchasing habits to be statistically insignificant. Ultimately, my hypothesis failed to be supported.