Research suggests that encouraging people to adopt healthy behaviours is often more effective using subtle cues rather than direct instructions ('nudge theory'). To investigate this, a psychologist conducted an observational study monitoring people's use of two hand-sanitising stations located near the main entrance of a busy community centre—one station had painted footprints on the floor leading up to it, while the other did not.

Using event sampling, recordings were made each time an individual used either sanitising station during a continuous four-hour period from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. The data showing the frequency of sanitiser use is presented in the table below.

Table 1: Frequency of hand-sanitising station use by males and females