The effect of product density and ambient scent on consumer anxiety. Although retail stores overflowing with merchandise can make consumers anxious, minimally stocked spaces can have the same effect. Researchers investigated whether the use of ambient scents can reduce anxiety by creating feelings of openness in a crowded environment or coziness in a minimally stocked environment. Participants were invited to a lab that simulated a retail environment that was either jam-packed or nearly empty. For each of these two product densities, the lab was infused with one of three scents: (1) a scent associated with spaciousness such as the seashore, (2) a scent associated with an enclosed space like the smell of firewood, and (3) no scent at all. Consumers evaluated several products and their level of anxiety was measured.

(a) Use a diagram like Figure 9.2 (page 233) to display the treatments in a design with two factors: product density and ambient scent. Then outline the design of a completely randomized experiment to compare these treatments.

(b) There are 30 subjects available for the experiment, and they are to be randomly assigned to the treatments, an equal number of subjects in each treatment. Explain how you would number subjects and then randomly assign the subjects to the treatments. If you use the Simple Random Sample applet or other software, assign all the subjects. If you use Table B, start at line 130 and assign subjects to only the first treatment group.