Image source: wallpapertodays.com (accessible here).
In an article posted at Pacific Standard, James McWilliams discusses a white paper released by GrubHub about eating habits across the nation. The white paper (and, thus, the article) focuses on gender differences and basically uses its findings to reinforce every gender stereotype that exists about eating:
Is this interesting? Is it accurate? The article makes no mention of the gender breakdown across GrubHub users, nor does it consider possible differences in how the genders approach online ordering. For example, do women more frequently decide what they want, then order (memory-based choice), while more men more often go online and then decide (stimulus-based choice)? To be fair, there's no way GrubHub could know this from its data. Some of the ordering habits broken down by gender are more intriguing than what is ordered (from the white paper):
Unfortunately, it seems that GrubHub had to drill way down into the data to uncover these differences: overall the eating habits of men and women are largely similar (pizza, soda, fries are the most preferred food across genders), it's only when looking at specific items and cuisine types that any type of variation exists. Of course, the paper doesn't tell us exactly how many observations we are dealing with, what the breakdown is by gender within these cuts of the data, how they handled repeat customers, nor what the cutoff threshold was for inclusion in the analysis (all they say is "[t]o warrant inclusion in our rankings and results – and ensure statistical significance – foods/dishes must meet a certain threshold of order volume, nationally"). One can assume they have enough data such that these findings are indeed significant, but it would still be nice to know some of these details.
Ultimately, GrubHub surely has a vast amount of data at its fingertips, so isn't there something else it could tell us about eating and online ordering habits that isn't catering to gendered stereotypes?
- "When it comes to basic American food, men are more inclined to eat wings, cheeseburgers, and cheesesteaks; women stick to soups and salads."
- From the white paper directly: “While men gravitate toward fad foods such as poutine and dishes featuring Sriracha hot sauce, women are drawn to pressed juice, gluten-free options and dishes featuring chia seeds, quinoa and kale."
- "According to GrubHub’s data bank, there’s one food choice, an undisputed American favorite, that transcends sex and unifies the genders: pizza. Both men and women order it—in addition to fries and soda—at nearly the same rates."
Is this interesting? Is it accurate? The article makes no mention of the gender breakdown across GrubHub users, nor does it consider possible differences in how the genders approach online ordering. For example, do women more frequently decide what they want, then order (memory-based choice), while more men more often go online and then decide (stimulus-based choice)? To be fair, there's no way GrubHub could know this from its data. Some of the ordering habits broken down by gender are more intriguing than what is ordered (from the white paper):
- Men are 55% more likely than women to order during late-night hours (10pm-2am).
- Men are 6% more likely than women to place orders for pick-up (versus delivery).
- Women are 30% more likely than men to order food at work.
Unfortunately, it seems that GrubHub had to drill way down into the data to uncover these differences: overall the eating habits of men and women are largely similar (pizza, soda, fries are the most preferred food across genders), it's only when looking at specific items and cuisine types that any type of variation exists. Of course, the paper doesn't tell us exactly how many observations we are dealing with, what the breakdown is by gender within these cuts of the data, how they handled repeat customers, nor what the cutoff threshold was for inclusion in the analysis (all they say is "[t]o warrant inclusion in our rankings and results – and ensure statistical significance – foods/dishes must meet a certain threshold of order volume, nationally"). One can assume they have enough data such that these findings are indeed significant, but it would still be nice to know some of these details.
Ultimately, GrubHub surely has a vast amount of data at its fingertips, so isn't there something else it could tell us about eating and online ordering habits that isn't catering to gendered stereotypes?
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