Creating psychometric scales for perceptual assessment of fruit juices’ refreshing and thickness attributes

• Published in: Appetite 2021-08, Vol.163, p.105232-105232, Article 105232
• Main Authors: Arboleda, Ana M., Arroyo, Christian, Alonso, Julio Cesar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Fruit juice; Item Response theory; Refreshing perception; Soft drinks; Thickness perception
• ISSN: 0195-6663; 1095-8304
• DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105232

Persons look for beverages to satisfy thirst (refresh) and feel fulfilled (thick). However, refreshing and thickness are concepts that lack a measurement instrument that captures an accurate judgment of consumers' perceptions. This research aims to propose a tool to assess consumers' refreshing and thickness expectations of fruit juices. Items were developed through a two-stage qualitative-exploratory study, followed by a quantitative study describing the scale's composition using an Item Response Theory approach. Hence, we suggest a set of items to consider when measuring both concepts from a perception task. Moreover, results show that thickness and refreshing are distinct and independent ideas. We provide a theoretical contribution defining each construct and recognizing the attributes that best describe refreshing and thickness for five different fruit juices. Our methodological contribution is creating a scale for each of the concepts. Practically, developing a thickness and refreshing scale is useful for product developers and marketers who expect to satisfy consumers' needs for soft drinks. [Display omitted]