A nutritionist at the Food and Drug Administration is studying the effects of cereal marketing on family meal choices. In particular, she would like to understand how cereal manufacturers market their products in grocery stores. She became interested in doing this study after noticing how the cereal was being restocked one day in her local grocery store. The store personnel were restocking the cereal shelves based on a reference sheet that told them where everything was to be placed. The placement of each cereal brand seemed very deliberate.

To gather data for her study, the nutritionist goes to the local grocery store and records data about cereal nutritional claims and shelf location for 77 cereals.