Peters also referenced the Common Patient Task conducted by the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL). In this scenario, John forgets to take his medicine before lunch at 12:00 noon and has to figure out when to take it. His prescription bottle instructs him to "take one tablet on an empty stomach one hour before a meal or two in three hours after a meal." Participants were asked to choose the earliest time that John can take his medicine in the afternoon. The correct answers were 2pm, 2-3pm, or 2 hours after, Only 60% of Americans in 2003 answered the question correctly. Failure to answer this question correctly is exemplified as both a numeracy and communication issue. Peters points out that there are a bevy of factors that can contribute to issues with numeracy. In addition to demographic factors like gender, age, education, and socioeconomic status, she highlights that numeracy issues may increase with poor health. Being a patient may reduce deliberate capability, including numeracy due to being sick, stressed, overwhelmed, and/or under time constraints. .
In their research article Numeracy and Decision making, Peters et al. conduct a study where participants were presented two illustrations of bowls containing red and white jelly beans. Participants were instructed to envision selecting 1 bean, and if the bean they selected was colored, they would be awarded $5. Bowl A, the larger of the two bowls, contained 100 jelly beans, 9 of which were colored, and was labeled as having ' '9% colored jelly beans''; Bowl B, the smaller of the two bowls contained 10 jelly beans, 1 of which was colored, and was labeled as having ' '10% colored jelly beans.'' Participants were asked to select the bowl they believed would give them the best chance of selecting the colored bean. The results of the study revealed a correlation between low numeracy and suboptimal choices.
