Including Reference Values in Questionnaires

Including Reference Values in Questionnaires

Introduction

In sensory evaluation, providing panellists with clear reference values for each attribute being tested is essential for ensuring consistency and accuracy in their assessments. When evaluating different cheeses, for instance, attributes such as sweetness, bitterness, and firmness need to be rated against a predefined benchmark. This benchmark, or golden standard, helps panellists understand the expected intensity levels for each attribute.
Including these reference values not only aids panellists during the evaluation process but also allows for consistent data collection. Additionally, you can choose to save these reference data in your final dataset to facilitate subsequent data analysis, enabling you to compare the results of different products with the golden standards effectively.
In this guide, we will explain how to include these reference values in your questionnaire to help panellists visualize the benchmarks.

How to add a reference sample to your project?

Step 1. 
To add a reference sample to your project, go to the Design tab > Products and click the Add Reference Product button.


Step 2.
A pop-up will be shown with the button “Reference Manually”, choose this option and a REF will be added the products.

This will create an extra entry with the number 0 which means that no data will be collected for this sample. The sample is only for the Panel Manager to know what the exact reference was and is not visible in the actual design page. The Reference sample can be easily deleted from the Product page by clicking the bin icon.


Notes
The REF sample will not be taken into consideration when using the Import Product Properties.

Reference sample information can be found in the Product tab of the EyeOpenR excel. 
​

Steps to Include Reference Values in Your Questionnaire

Step 1,
Add a Linescale Question: Insert a linescale question into your questionnaire.

Step 2.
Configure Advanced Settings:
  1. Click on "Advanced Settings."
  2. Under "Marker/REF," enter the label that panellists should visualize on the scale. In this example, we used "REF."
  3. In the second field, specify the point on the scale where the reference value should be shown. For instance, for the attribute "Firmness," enter 8 to mark the reference value at that point.
This configuration allows panellists to see where the reference values lie on the scale during their evaluations.


Saving Reference Data

To save these reference data for later analysis:
Step 1. 
Navigate to Settings > Project Settings.
Step 2. 
Enable the option "Save reference data.", ensure this option is enabled before deploying your questionnaire.

Analyzing Data with Reference Values

When analyzing the data, you will be able to include the reference values in your analysis, allowing for a more comprehensive comparison of the results against the golden standards.






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