Online consumer testing beyond central location tests: A case study for brewed coffee
Seyeong Park1, Cho-Long Lee2, Jungmin Oh3
1Food Processing Research Group, Korea Food Research Institute, Wanju-gun 55465, Republic of Korea; Department of Nutritional Science and Food Management, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Republic of Korea.
Food Research International (Ottawa, Ont.)
|May 19, 2024
Summary
The online home-use test (O-HUT) with researcher interaction closely matched traditional sensory evaluations, outperforming the contactless version. These non-face-to-face methods offer flexible, cost-effective sensory data collection.
Area of Science:
- Sensory Science
- Consumer Research
- Food Science
Background:
- COVID-19 pandemic necessitated non-face-to-face sensory evaluation methods.
- Traditional face-to-face central location tests (CLT) face limitations in accessibility and cost.
- Development of remote testing protocols is crucial for continued sensory research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the efficacy of two non-face-to-face home-use tests (HUT) against traditional central location tests (CLT).
- To evaluate a contactless HUT (C-HUT) and an online HUT with live researcher guidance (O-HUT).
- To assess the suitability of these methods for collecting sensory data on liking, sensory, and emotional attributes.
Main Methods:
- Participants were recruited online and received coffee samples delivered to their homes.
- One group (C-HUT) followed a written protocol without direct researcher contact.
- Another group (O-HUT) received live guidance via online meetings with a researcher.
- Data from HUTs were compared to results from a traditional CLT using RV coefficients.
Main Results:
- The O-HUT demonstrated high similarity to CLT results (RV coefficients 0.92-0.98, P < 0.05).
- CLT results were significantly more similar to O-HUT than to C-HUT.
- O-HUT showed superior ability to discriminate between coffee samples compared to C-HUT.
Conclusions:
- Online home-use tests (O-HUT) with real-time researcher interaction are a viable alternative to traditional sensory evaluations.
- Contactless home-use tests (C-HUT) are suitable but may be less effective for sample discrimination.
- Both C-HUT and O-HUT offer flexibility, reduce costs, and overcome geographical limitations in sensory data collection.
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