Analytical testing
This type of testing is concerned with obtaining objective facts about products. This could range from basic discrimination testing (e.g. Do two or more products differ from each other?) to descriptive analysis (e.g. What are the characteristics of two or more products?). The type of panel required for this type of testing would normally be a trained panel.
There are several types of sensory tests. The most classic is the sensory profile. In this test, each taster describes each product by means of a questionnaire. The questionnaire includes a list of descriptors (e.g., bitterness, acidity, etc.). The taster rates each descriptor for each product depending on the intensity of the descriptor he perceives in the product (e.g., 0 = very weak to 10 = very strong). In the method of Free choice profiling, each taster builds his own questionnaire.
Another family of methods is known as holistic as they are focused on the overall appearance of the product. This is the case of the categorization and the napping.
In common usage, evaluation is a systematic determination and assessment of a subject's merit, worth and significance, using criteria governed by a set of standards. It can assist an organization, program, design, project or any other intervention or initiative to assess any aim, realisable concept/proposal, or any alternative, to help in decision-making; or to generate the degree of achievement or value in regard to the aim and objectives and results of any such action that has been completed.
Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data about issues relating to marketing products and services. The goal is to identify and assess how changing elements of the marketing mix impacts customer behavior.
Concept testing is the process of using surveys to evaluate consumer acceptance of a new product idea prior to the introduction of a product to the market. It is important not to confuse concept testing with advertising testing, brand testing and packaging testing, as is sometimes done. Concept testing focuses on the basic product idea, without the embellishments and puffery inherent in advertising.
In marketing, market segmentation is the process of dividing a broad consumer or business market, normally consisting of existing and potential customers, into sub-groups of consumers based on shared characteristics.
Qualitative marketing research involves a natural or observational examination of the philosophies that govern consumer behavior. The direction and framework of the research is often revised as new information is gained, allowing the researcher to evaluate issues and subjects in an in-depth manner. The quality of the research produced is heavily dependent on the skills of the researcher and is influenced by researcher bias.
Usability can be described as the capacity of a system to provide a condition for its users to perform the tasks safely, effectively, and efficiently while enjoying the experience. In software engineering, usability is the degree to which a software can be used by specified consumers to achieve quantified objectives with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a quantified context of use.
Conjoint analysis is a survey-based statistical technique used in market research that helps determine how people value different attributes that make up an individual product or service.
A personality test is a method of assessing human personality constructs. Most personality assessment instruments are in fact introspective self-report questionnaire measures or reports from life records (L-data) such as rating scales. Attempts to construct actual performance tests of personality have been very limited even though Raymond Cattell with his colleague Frank Warburton compiled a list of over 2000 separate objective tests that could be used in constructing objective personality tests. One exception however, was the Objective-Analytic Test Battery, a performance test designed to quantitatively measure 10 factor-analytically discerned personality trait dimensions. A major problem with both L-data and Q-data methods is that because of item transparency, rating scales and self-report questionnaires are highly susceptible to motivational and response distortion ranging all the way from lack of adequate self-insight to downright dissimulation depending on the reason/motivation for the assessment being undertaken.
Kansei engineering aims at the development or improvement of products and services by translating the customer's psychological feelings and needs into the domain of product design. It was founded by Mitsuo Nagamachi, Professor Emeritus of Hiroshima University. Kansei engineering parametrically links the customer's emotional responses to the properties and characteristics of a product or service. In consequence, products can be designed to bring forward the intended feeling.
Subjective video quality is video quality as experienced by humans. It is concerned with how video is perceived by a viewer and designates their opinion on a particular video sequence. It is related to the field of Quality of Experience. Measuring subjective video quality is necessary because objective quality assessment algorithms such as PSNR have been shown to correlate poorly with subjective ratings. Subjective ratings may also be used as ground truth to develop new algorithms.
Discrimination testing is a technique employed in sensory analysis to determine whether there is a detectable difference among two or more products. The test uses a group of assessors (panellists) with a degree of training appropriate to the complexity of the test to discriminate from one product to another through one of a variety of experimental designs. Though useful, these tests typically do not quantify or describe any differences, requiring a more specifically trained panel under different study design to describe differences and assess significance of the difference.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to marketing:
The European Sensory Network (ESN) is an international association of leading academic and research institutions in the field of sensory and consumer sciences. ESN members share their knowledge and expertise and work towards standard methodologies. The network was founded in 1989 to meet the challenge of the rapidly developing science of sensory analysis.
Wine tasting is the sensory examination and evaluation of wine. While the practice of wine tasting is as ancient as its production, a more formalized methodology has slowly become established from the 14th century onward. Modern, professional wine tasters use a constantly evolving specialized terminology which is used to describe the range of perceived flavors, aromas and general characteristics of a wine. More informal, recreational tasting may use similar terminology, usually involving a much less analytical process for a more general, personal appreciation.
Package testing or packaging testing involves the measurement of a characteristic or property involved with packaging. This includes packaging materials, packaging components, primary packages, shipping containers, and unit loads, as well as the associated processes.
IT risk management is the application of risk management methods to information technology in order to manage IT risk, i.e.:
Sensory design aims to establish an overall diagnosis of the sensory perceptions of a product, and define appropriate means to design or redesign it on that basis. It involves an observation of the diverse and varying situations in which a given product or object is used in order to measure the users' overall opinion of the product, its positive and negative aspects in terms of tactility, appearance, sound and so on.
Sensometrics is a scientific discipline that involves the application of mathematical, statistical, and computational methods to the field of Sensory and Consumer Science. It is an interdisciplinary field, closely related to disciplines such as sensory evaluation, statistics, psychometrics, and chemometrics, among others. Sensometrics deals with all aspects of data generation and analysis, from design of experiments and methods used to investigate perceptions and preferences, to specific tools to analyze and model the data resulting from these methods. Sensometrics plays a key role in Sensory and Consumer Science, providing important tools with applications in product development, quality assurance, market research, and consumer behavior.
Developed by Tragon Corporation in 1974, Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) is a behavioral sensory evaluation approach that uses descriptive panels to measure a product’s sensory characteristics. Panel members use their senses to identify perceived similarities and differences in products, and articulate those perceptions in their own words. Sensory evaluation is a science that measures, analyzes, and interprets the reactions of the senses of sight, smell, sound, taste, and texture (or kinesthesis) to products. It is a people science; i.e., people are essential to obtain information about products.
Flavor lexicons or flavour lexicons are used by professional taste testers to develop and detail the sensory perception experienced from food. The lexicon is a word bank developed by professional taste testers in order to identify an objective, nuanced and cross-cultural word bank for food.
