Taste Tests: ABSTRACT

Discrimination and preference testing is performed extensively by food and beverage producers for managerial purposes and, more recently, for comparative advertising. In this paper, the authors examine several basic issues in the design of these tests. The concepts of discrimination, preference, and choice are defined and related to one another. Further, various psychophysical models of discrimination and preference are presented and compared. These psychophysical models are then related to specific product test designs. The purpose of this exercise is to provide the applied product researcher or manager with a coherent conceptual framework for designing comparative product tests.