A consumer psychologist conducted an investigation to determine whether introducing a lavender ambient scent to a boutique clothing store increased the duration of time customers spent browsing, compared to a control condition with no ambient scent. An independent measures design was employed with a sample of 14 customers. Seven customers browsed under the lavender scent condition, while the other seven browsed under the control (no scent) condition. The time spent browsing (in minutes) for each participant was recorded and is presented in the table below.
| Shopping duration (minutes) under lavender vs no ambient scent | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Lavender Scent | No Ambient Scent (Control) | ||
| Participant | Duration | Participant | Duration |
| 1 | 42 | 1 | 28 |
| 2 | 38 | 2 | 32 |
| 3 | 55 | 3 | 25 |
| 4 | 48 | 4 | 40 |
| 5 | 35 | 5 | 30 |
| 6 | 50 | 6 | 35 |
| 7 | 44 | 7 | 22 |
Outline what is meant by the scientific feature of hypothesis testing and state how it applies to this study.
