The Nonspecificity of Differences in Taste Testing for Preference

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to report a taste-preference experiment with raisins which emphasizes the distinction between difference testing and preference ratings based on organoleptic examinations of foods, beverages, perfumes and similar substances. The experiment involves simple, singlepaired comparisons, because such procedures are fundamental in most ranking procedures.It is sometimes assumed that products can be classed as better than similar products by mass testing that consists of having the products ranked according to preference by a great number of persons. The tables giving the number of favorable responses necessary to indicate statistical significance assume the same direction of preference for all testers and ability to detect the difference if any exists. These two assumptions will now be discussed in some detail, and applied to the experiment with raisins. MASS CONSUMER PREFERENCE TESTING BASED ON ONE TEST PER CONSUMERIf none of the testers can distinguish a difference, then the products will be equally preferred and in a series of trials about half the time each will be scored over the other. The probabilities of each number of .scorings of A over B, say, will be given by ( )where n is the number of testers employed. If the difference can be detected by each tester, but one-half the testers prefer A over B and one-half prefer B over A, and we consider a sample of n tasters drawn at random from such a population of testers, then the probabilities of each number of scorings of A over B will be again given by (1). That is, the two cases are indistinguishable on the basis of an experiment which simply records the preference for the two products.If all preferences are in the same direction we have the usual one-tailed test (5) if the questions are: is A preferred to B or is B preferred to A, and the usual two-tailed test if it is merely asked if one product is preferred to another. The probabilities involved are either the right or left tails or both tails of (1). If the difference can be dCtected and part of the preferences are one way and part the other, say the proportion that prefer A is p and proportion that prefer B is q, and p + q = 1, then the probabilities of given numbers of A over B in preference expressions are given by:(q + pjll.(2)The distribution (2) can be quite skewed either to the right or to the 810

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