Comparison of discriminability of common food acceptance scales for the elderly

This study was aimed to compare four commonly used methods for evaluating consumer acceptance (the 5-point and the 9-point hedonic scales) and preference (the ranking scale and the best-worst scaling) in terms of their ability in discriminating samples and perceived ease of use by the elderly. Elderly (n = 100) and young adult (n = 100) consumers participated in this study. Each consumer evaluated five commercial orange juice samples in duplicate for hedonic rating and preference rank separately and then evaluated ten sets of three samples for the best-worst scale, following the balanced incomplete block design. Nonparametric tests were employed as normality of data was violated. A significant sample effect was observed in all four methods (P < .001). Discriminating power of the best-worst scaling was more pronounced in the elderly than in the young adults; however, the best-worst scaling was easy to use for the young adults than for the elderly.