Measuring consumer response to complex perception: Scaling vs. categorization task
Food Quality and Preference, 2012
ABSTRACT Scaling is commonly used with consumers for measuring complex perceptions (e.g. creamine... more ABSTRACT Scaling is commonly used with consumers for measuring complex perceptions (e.g. creaminess, refreshing) induced by food. Since this task is prone to different psychophysical biases in scale usage that increase the inter-individual variability, the categorization task (CT) may be a more simple and discriminating alternative to scaling. In the present study the expected food naturalness of a packaged prepared food was evaluated by 120 consumers based on 8 different packaging pictures. Each consumer assessed 4 out of 8 pictures. First they categorized each picture as “Not at all natural” or “Extremely natural” while recording their response time. Then they rated naturalness using a line scale where “Not at all natural” or “Extremely natural” were the anchors. CT binary responses were transformed into continuous data using response time and compared to scaling data in terms of agreement and discriminative power. As key findings, CT results were in agreement with scaling results but discrimination power was greater with scaling than CT. As perspective, further research is required to determine whether the simplicity of CT may lead to more discrimination compared to scaling for specific consumer targets such as older population.
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Papers by Nicolas Pineau