The 9-point hedonic scale and hedonic ranking in food science: some reappraisals and alternatives

The 9-point hedonic scale has been used routinely in food science, the same way for 60 years. Now, with advances in technology, data from the scale are being used for more and more complex programs for statistical analysis and modeling. Accordingly, it is worth reconsidering the presentation protocols and the analyses associated with the scale, as well as some alternatives. How the brain generates numbers and the types of numbers it generates has relevance for the choice of measurement protocols. There are alternatives to the generally used serial monadic protocol, which can be more suitable. Traditionally, the 'words' on the 9-point hedonic scale are reassigned as 'numbers', while other '9-point hedonic scales' are purely numerical; the two are not interchangeable. Parametric statistical analysis of scaling data is examined critically and alternatives discussed. The potential of a promising alternative to scaling itself, simple ranking with a hedonic R-Index signal detection analysis, is explored in comparison with the 9-point hedonic scale.