Methods in Consumer Research, Volume 2

Alternative Approaches and Special Applications

Gaston Ares, Paula Varela

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2018
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• eBook ISBN:
  9780081017449
• Subtopic: Food Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Methods for Consumer Research, Volume Two: Alternative Approaches and Special Applications brings together world leading experts in global consumer research who provide a fully comprehensive state-of-the-art coverage of emerging methodologies and their innovative application. The book puts consumer research in-context with coverage of immersive techniques and virtual reality, while also looking at health-related Issues in consumer science, including sections on food intake and satiation. Other sections delve into physiological measurements within the context of consumer research and how to design studies for specific populations. In conjunction with the first volume, which covers new approaches to classical methodology, this book is an invaluable reference for academics working in the fields of in-sensory and consumer science, psychology, marketing and nutrition. With examples of the methodology being applied throughout, it serves as a practical guide to research and development managers in both food and non-food companies. - Presents comprehensive coverage of new and emerging techniques in consumer science - Provides examples of successful application of the methodologies presented throughout - Identifies how to design research for special populations, including children, the elderly and low-income consumers - Discusses sensitivity to cross-cultural populations and emerging markets - Includes research design for food, cosmetic and household products - Highlights both psychological and physiological consumer measurements

Part I

Doing Consumer Research

Outline

Chapter 1. Contextual Influences on Consumer Responses to Food Products

Chapter 2. Evoked Contexts

Chapter 3. Immersive Techniques and Virtual Reality

Chapter 4. Evaluation of Meals and Food Pairing

Chapter 5. Situational Factors and the Design of In Situ Evaluations

Chapter 1

Contextual Influences on Consumer Responses to Food Products

Armand V. Cardello¹, and Herbert L. Meiselman^{2 1}U.S. Army Natick RD&E Center, Natick, MA, United States ²Herb Meiselman Training and Consulting Services, Rockport, MA, United States

Abstract

This chapter provides a review of the role of contextual factors in food choice and acceptance. Both laboratory and field studies are covered and include contextual influences due to information, e.g., those due to product labeling and portion size information; elements of the physical environment, including color, size, shape, weight, and feel of serving vessels and the role of sound and lighting; the presence and nature of other stimuli/foods; the social environment; and meal-based effects, including dining locations, feeding environments, and factors important in naturally occurring meals. Both historical and contemporary approaches to studying context are reviewed, along with an assessment of the future of contextual research in food and meal choice and acceptance.

Keywords

Consumer choice and acceptance; Contextual effects; Evoked context; Food choice; Lab versus natural environments; Laboratory testing

Chapter Outline

1. Introduction

1.1 Terminology

1.2 The History of Studying Context

1.3 Food Choice Models That Include Context

1.4 Lab-Based Versus Natural Approaches to Context: Advantages and Limitations

1.5 Objectives of the Chapter

2. Laboratory-Based Research on Context

2.1 Methods and Approaches Used in Lab-Based Contextual Research

2.2 Situational Appropriateness: An Early Lab-Based Approach to Context

2.3 Methodological Advances in Lab-Based Research on Context: Evoked and Virtual Contexts

3. Contextual Effects Within The Information Environment

3.1 Contextual Effects of Information Influencing Sensory Judgments

3.2 Contextual Effects of Information Influencing Affective Judgments

4. Contextual Effects Within the Physical Environment

4.1 Effects of Packaging

4.2 Effects of the Color, Shape, Size, and Appropriateness of the Serving Vessel

4.2.1 Appropriateness of the Serving Vessel

4.2.2 Color of the Serving Vessel

4.2.3 Shape, Size, Weight, and Feel of the Serving Vessel

4.3 Effects of Lighting and Music

5. Contextual Effects Within the Meal Environment

6. Summary of Lab-Based Research on Context

7. Nonlaboratory (Natural) Methods

7.1 Contextual Effects Using Attitudinal and Expectations-Based Methods

7.2 Contextual Effects Within Meal Components

7.3 Contextual Effects in Natural Field Settings

7.4 Home Testing Versus Lab and Central Location Testing

7.5 Contextual Effects Due to the Social Environment

7.6 Contextual Effects Based on Dining Location

7.7 Contextual Effects Due to the Physical Environment

8. The Future

References

1. Introduction

1.1. Terminology

This chapter deals with the subject of “context,” which covers a very broad range of phenomena. We use context to refer to “the situation in which something happens: the group of conditions that exist where and when something happens” (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, 2016, online Merriam-Webster.com). When we apply this definition to sensory and consumer research, we open up all of the situations in which sensory and consumer research come to bear on products and situations. This includes relatively simple situations, such as whether a sweet solution is made with distilled water or added to fruit juice, or more complex laboratory studies in which food items or serving vessels are varied to examine their influence on foods, all the way to serving multicomponent meals in a home setting, school, or restaurant.

Context is not the only word used in relationship to “the situation in which something happens.” The words environment and setting are also used and usually refer to the physical location—a laboratory, restaurant, dining room, home kitchen, etc. The word situation is often used more broadly, much like the word context. The variables involved with both “context” and “situation” are called contextual or situational variables. These variables can be product variables (for example, the foods served with other foods), social variables (for example, the people present), and physical environmental variables (for example, lighting, sound, etc.). Some models of context might also include economic variables, such as price.

Two other words are needed to set the scene for this exploration of context, natural and real. Some researchers want to describe certain contexts as natural or real and other contexts as not natural or not real. Natural means that something exists in nature. People do not naturally eat their lunch in a laboratory, so that is not a natural setting. The word real refers to something that exists, rather than something imagined or artificial.

Consider again the laboratory meal—it is not a natural meal, but it might be considered a real meal, because it does exist and is not imagined. When we use written descriptions of meals, they are not natural and not real. The contextual literature is filled with authors trying to attach the words natural and/or real to particular methods and particular situations.

Context and the related words situation, environment, and setting are often used with specific adjectives to further identify a specific area of interest. These adjectives include economic, physical, social, economic, cultural, and others. Studying the economic context of a product might include measuring the effect of price on consumers’ willingness to purchase it or it might involve the segmentation of consumers into high and low income to assess differential effects on perceived quality of foods. Physical context, as noted before, might be synonymous with the term environment or setting. Variables in the physical context could include lighting, noise, and furnishings. Social context is of interest to a broad range of research disciplines including psychology, anthropology, sociology, and marketing. Variables in the social context might include product usage, dining alone or in groups, or the influence of different types of individuals on product assessment. Cultural context is a large area of study, and cross-cultural sensory and consumer research is becoming more important in this era of rapid globalization. One part, but not the only part, of cross-cultural context involves the challenges of repeating research in different parts of the world with comparable instructions and response formats, given the differences in languages.

1.2. The History of Studying Context

As sensory psychophysics and sensory testing began to develop, Rosemary Pangborn was one of the first to examine sensory stimuli in foods and not just in simple taste solutions. She used taste stimuli in a food context, such as sugar in lemonade (Pangborn, 1980), an approach subsequently used by many others, e.g., DuBose, Cardello, and Maller (1980) at Natick Laboratories.

The behavioral scientists at Natick Laboratories began to investigate contextual effects on food acceptability and food consumption in the 1980s. Meiselman, Hirsch, and Popper (1988) presented a model of food choice and consumption that included situational factors at the Food Acceptability conference at the University of Reading, UK, in 1987. Their data came from studies of US soldiers and students reported in 1985 and 1987 (these data are presented in Section 7 under nonlaboratory approaches). They tried to explicitly move beyond the simple sensory model when examining factors contributing to food consumption. This approach was more recently emphasized by Schifferstein (2010): “this (psychophysical laboratory) approach has its limitations for understanding food perception, because food products may be consumed in many different settings (e.g., at home, in a restaurant, in an aircraft), while consumers are influenced by the characteristics of the environment (e.g., lighting conditions, cutlery, atmosphere) and information t...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Related Titles
• Copyright
• List of Contributors
• Preface
• Part I. Doing Consumer Research
• Part II. Health-Related Issues
• Part III. Psychological and Physiological Measurements
• Part IV. Designing Studies for Specific Populations
• Part V. Consumer Research With Non-food Products
• Index