Color Preference
Siang
Introduction
Color preference is mostly asked questions today. It change the way people view something.
For instance, people usually choose to buy the item based on their favorite when they shop
even thought all items are the same. Everyone can tell what is his or her favorite color, except
the blind. It is a part of one’s personality. Today in the U.S., but not elsewhere and not always,
blue is gendered male and pink gendered female. We might expect, then, that men would
internalize a preference for blue and women a preference for pink. However, according to
psychology research, social environment plays a great role on how we develop our behaviors
and personality. From the day that babies are brought home and cradled in their pink or blue
blankets, implications have been made about gender and color. There are some people who
change color preference as they get old but some don’t.
Task statement
The purpose of the study is to investigate whether there is a correlation between
gender and color preference. In order to carry out the investigation, only people with
different gender and age and ask them their favorite question which is “What is your
favorite color?” At least 120 people will be needed in order for the more accuracy and to be
able to come up with a conclusion. Interviewing is the initial critical part for this study
because it not just about asking whoever is coming in the way. If 90 female subjects out of
120 participants are asked instead of 50 male and 50 female or close, the calculation may go
wrong or the conclusion will be invalid. After the interview part is done, the information
will be digested through the mathematical processes. Some math processes that will be used
include pie chart, bar chart, and contingency tables. After all the calculation part is done,
each task will be analyzed. The analysis made must tie to the theses.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Blue
*
*
Green Red
Brown Pink
Orange Yellow White Purple Black Gold
*
*
Others MALE
Male
Male
Male
Male
*
FEMALE AGE
Female
Female
Female
*
*
*
Male
*
Female
*
Male
*
Female
*
*
*
*
*
Male
Male
Male
Male
Male
*
Female
Female
Female
*
*
*
Male
Male
*
*
Female
Female
Female
*
*
*
Male
*
Female
*
Male
Male
Male
*
*
*
Female
8
15
12
9
17
16
56
30
22
25
19
21
35
60
55
40
36
50
18
50
32
42
16
10
14
23
61
57
30
46
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
*
Female
Female
Female
*
*
*
37
32
27
19
18
38
15
26
51
20
37
9
28
34
16
18
40
17
15
24
21
18
49
Male
*
Female
*
Male
*
Female
Female
*
*
Male
Male
*
*
Female
*
Male
Male
Male
Male
*
*
*
*
Female
*
Male
*
Female
*
Male
*
Female
*
Male
*
Female
*
*
*
*
Male
Male
Male
Male
*
*
*
*
70+
Male
Male
Male
Male
*
*
*
*
*
42
32
17
53
32
21
70+
Female
Female
*
*
*
50
Female
Female
Female
*
*
70+
Female
Male
Female
Female
Female
17
46
26
19
43
17
67
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
*
Female
*
Male
Male
Male
*
*
*
Female
Female
*
*
*
Male
Male
*
Female
*
Male
Male
*
*
Female
*
Male
Male
*
*
Female
*
Male
Male
*
*
Female
*
*
Male
Male
*
Female
*
Male
*
Female
Female
*
*
Male
Male
Male
*
*
*
1
3
7
3
3
4
2
1
2
5
3
1
4
5
1
1
2
4
5
4
1
2
4
2
2
3
2
Female
*
Male
*
Female
Female
Female
Female
Female
*
*
*
*
*
*
Male
Male
*
Female
*
Male
Male
*
*
Female
5
3
1
2
4
1
2
1
6
1
4
2
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
Total
*
Male
*
Female
Female
*
*
Male
*
Female
Female
*
*
Male
Male
*
*
Female
*
22
19
20
7
12
4
3
Male
4
15
2
3
9
66
54
Color preferences by Gender
Color Preference by Age
blue
green
red
Brow
n
pink
orange
yellow
white
purple
black
Alodine/
gold
others
6-30
9
16
11
4
9
2
2
2
6
1
2
2
31-50
6
2
7
3
3
2
1
1
7
1
3
51-70+
7
1
2
0
0
0
1
2
0
4
The total participants = 120
The age from 6 to 30 = 66
66
Percent = 120 ∗ 100 = 55%
The age from 31 to 50 = 36
36
Percent = 120 ∗ 100 = 30%
The age from 51 to 70 over = 18
18
Percent = 120 ∗ 100 = 15%
1
Correlation between gender and color
Mostly chosen color Male Female Total
Blue
16
6
22
Purple
3
12
15
Total
19
18
37
Mostly chosen
color
Blue
Purple
Total
Male
19 * 22
---------------- = 11.3
37
19 * 15
----------------- = 7.7
37
19
Female
Total
18 * 22
--------------- = 10.7
37
22
18 * 15
--------------- = 7.3
37
15
18
37
Discussion/validity
By looking at the first graph which is color preference in gender, we can see some see
some difference between male and female. If we describe more in details, in some particular
color such as blue, pink, green, and purple, we can see that there is a negative correlation in
which the values of one of the variables increase the values of the second variable decrease.
In any other researches, it’s true that men usually prefer blue and red while female tend to
prefer green, pink, and purple. But in some case, it could be the opposite. There is the
possibility for men to choose the colors that are more attractive to women. Also, some other
factors such as the environment we live in could play the role too. For example, if a person
live a place where the pink color is popular or considered to be luck color, then that man is
more likely to choose pink.
Although, it’s believe that some people change their color preference as they get older. That
could be possible because nothing is stationary our life; the way we live, our behavior, our
association with other people, we change all of those as we get older. As far as the color is
concerned, it’s as important as something that you care for the most. It is a part of our
identification and it should not be ignored. In this study, I divided different ages into three
groups: 6-30(group one), 31-50(group two), and 51-70(group 3) over. Group one represents
55%; group two represents 30%; and group three, 15%. Using pie chart, I present the color
preference of each group in a different pie chart. Generally by observing at the three charts
from different age groups we can see that the blue color is increasing down the group while
the green decrease and stay constant at the second and the third group. Base on that
knowledge, we can assume that the more we get older the more likely we would prefer the
blue. And the green color would the one color we chose in the past or during childhood. On
the other hand, the red color pretty much stays the same, which mean the people who chose
red from the beginning stick to it. When we were young, we did not have some options to
choose. Mostly known colors by children would be green, blue, and red, pink, and purple.
That why the young people of the first group chose to preferred them. The preference in the
pink color is very high on the chart of the first group, it goes down in the second group and
reappear in group three. Even though, the number of participants in group three is less than
other groups, we can still assume that people are more likely to switch their color preference
from pink.
There had been some research done in psychology field on investigation between gender and
color choice. They believe there is a correlation between gender and color preference. And
this is why I chose to conduct this study. Well, to find out if there is the correlation or not, I
used contingency tables method. This is the right method for my study. In order to know
whether the correlation exists, there are six steps to follow. First, construct the corresponding
tables of expected values from the table of observed values; second, calculate the value of U
using its formula; third, calculate the number of degree of freedom; fourth, decide the level of
significance; fifth, look up the critical value, c (1-α) χ2 (υ); and the final step, if U > c (1-α) χ2(υ),
reject H0. After getting done with all of those steps, U value is 9.92 and the number of
degrees of freedom is 2 x 2 because the table has two rows and two columns. And I used 5%
level of significance. If we reject H0, it means that there is a correlation between gender and
color. And because U is greater than 3.841 according to my calculation, there is a relationship
between gender and color preference.