Comparison of Home Use Tests with Differing Time and Order Controls

Abstract

Consumer tests are classified in terms of the location of testing as laboratory tests or central location tests (CLTs) and home use tests (HUTs). CLT is generally used in sensory tests due to the ease of test control, whereas HUT has higher validity because of real consumption. However, the lack of test control in HUT is a major issue. In order to investigate the error occurrence and efforts required to minimize errors, three groups of tests were designed differing time and order control and evaluation was conducted using six snacks with texture differences. Errors related to time, order, and consumer or sample number were higher for more controlled conditions, however, most errors were recoverable using identification information except for cases of no response. Additionally, consumers preferred to consume all snacks in the evening at home, which differed from the typical 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. evaluation time in CLT. However, the timing differed for consumers with self-reported snacking time. The research title that included the term ‘home’ might have influenced the participants’ choice of location for evaluation. Overall, there was no significant difference between the results of groups despite different time and order controls, which could increase the applicability of HUT.

Effects of sensory test conditions and cooking methods on consumer acceptance, sensory profiling, and emotional response of home meal replacement foods

“…In the comparison of CLT and HUT for plant‐based jerky samples, sensory profiling using a check‐all‐that‐apply method was almost identical; however, overall liking across the samples was different for certain samples (Kim et al, 2023). Our results are, therefore, in line with the previous studies that had consistent sensory profiles whether in case of CLT or HUT (Kim et al, 2023; Lee & Lee, 2021; Niimi et al, 2022; Park et al, 2023). The participants seemed to approach the intrinsic factor of the sample taste and flavor, which was not influenced by the external context, that is, test conditions, for generating sensory profiles.…”

Consumer testing away from a sensory facility: Application of home-use test and no-contact home-use test

“…The Covid-19 pandemic significantly changed the daily lives of individuals by increasing the activities associated with risk aversion, which may have also affected their food-related behavior and preferences ( Im et al, 2021 ). During the pandemic period, no-contact methods have explosively increased in popularity in the food service industry, with people preferring indirect interaction (e.g., person-machine/person-machine-person) instead of direct person-to-person interactions ( Dinnella et al, 2022 , Kim et al, 2017 , Lee and Lee, 2021 , Pokhrel and Chhetri, 2021 , Varela, 2022 ). Covid-19 is almost over, but the lifestyle habits that have changed due to this remain continuous.…”

“…Although HUT was frequently used in the food industry, there is a lack of studies evaluating the effect of test conditions compared to CLT. There are many aspects to consider regarding HUT: sample size (size, minimum consumption, package effect, product type), procedure (transportation to the lab, personal visit, delivery service), evaluation method (questionnaire on paper, online questionnaire, order of samples, presence of other people), and time (evaluation time, forced interval time) ( Lee & Lee, 2021 ). Recently, Lee and Lee (2021) conducted HUT using a parcel delivery service in Korea.…”

“…There are many aspects to consider regarding HUT: sample size (size, minimum consumption, package effect, product type), procedure (transportation to the lab, personal visit, delivery service), evaluation method (questionnaire on paper, online questionnaire, order of samples, presence of other people), and time (evaluation time, forced interval time) ( Lee & Lee, 2021 ). Recently, Lee and Lee (2021) conducted HUT using a parcel delivery service in Korea. This study investigated and compared the results obtained using a home-use test by three groups differing in ‘time and order’ control using six commercial snacks with different textures.…”

Effect of product properties and context on the perception of sweetness and liking: A case study with butter cookies

“…Although no significant differences were found between CLT and HUT evaluations, suggesting that evoking a context in CLT was a useful methodology to assess butter cookies perception, some slight but significant differences were identified among samples in each context, showing that CLT results provided higher discrimination among samples. CLT has been reported to have some advantages (time / money / resources) over real context studies (Lee & Lee, 2021), but HUT test allowed to recreate a more natural and real consumption context. In addition, HUT can be used at these times when other types of studies are not feasible, such as the situation of blockage that some countries suffered due to Covid‐19 in 2020.…”