Students research Trayless dining

Award-winning report shows fewer plates used Tuesdays

By: Keri Wabrowetz

Posted: 12/11/08

Two UW-Eau Claire psychology students received first place for a research project presented at the sixth annual Seven Rivers Undergraduate Research Symposium Nov. 7 at Viterbo University.

Sophomore Jessica Sprain and junior Randy Lim presented to and answered questions from judges about their project, "Tray-less Dining and its Effects on Student Behavior." The project was part of a psychology research course.

"Our professor thought the project was new and innovative," Sprain said. "It was something different. He recommended we both go and present our research for fun and see how it all went. Obviously it went well."

Lim said he and Sprain wanted to do something that would affect the majority of people living in the dorms and on campus.

"Many people either feel one way or the other (about Trayless Tuesdays)," he said. "It's very hard to find someone who's neutral about it. It (the project) just would interest everybody on campus, whether you're a student in the dorms or a worker in the caf."

The project was a naturalistic observation study, Sprain said, and was based on a lot of the negative attitudes toward Trayless Tuesdays they had observed from friends and other students.

"We looked at the number of dishes each student used in the cafeteria on days when there were trays, then on Tuesdays when there weren't," she said.

Their hypothesis was that more plates would be used on Tuesdays when trays weren't available, Sprain said, adding that this in turn might prove Trayless Tuesdays were ineffective because more dishes were being used instead of trays, defeating the objective of having to wash less dishes. But after watching students at meal times, the pair found that wasn't the case.

"We found that the number of dishes didn't change but the number of trips students took to get food did," Sprain said.

Sprain said she and Lim felt if they could prove dishes were increased, they could go to the university with the proof that Trayless Tuesdays were not working. But because of the outcome, Sprain said they can go to students.

"We can now actually tell students that it does work," she said, adding that with students having done the research, other students would be more likely to listen and believe in the benefit of Trayless Tuesdays.

"It's coming from students saying that it actually does work, except students have to now exert a larger effort (to get their food)," Sprain said.

Lim said he was surprised to find that Trayless Tuesdays do lead to using fewer dishes, but that the extra effort that has to be made by students still makes it less effective.

"I think in the long run that it doesn't work because people still have to get up and make trips (for food)," he said, adding that he's seen students spill things while doing this.

And as for receiving first place-the two said they were completely surprised.

"It was amazing," Lim said. "I couldn't believe it. There was a lot of great groups out there."

Sprain agreed, saying she was "shocked."

"I felt that there were other groups there we thought did a better job overall with their research," she said. "But our research was up and coming; it was something new that students haven't done before."