Comparing Chocolate Chips

Comparing Chocolate Chips: A Counterbalanced, Double-blind Taste Test The purpose of the current study is to determine the preference between two commercially available chocolate chips. The study will determine the participants’ history of chocolate chip consumption. The study will examine the differences between chocolate chips in terms of taste characteristics. Lastly, the study will examine the differences of importance in terms of taste characteristics.

Methodology

Counterbalancing is a method of controlling order effects in a repeated measures design. When counterbalancing is used participants are broken up in to two or more groups. For example, group one will receive product A followed by product B. Group two will receive product

Burgan and Koch and Woroszylo both tested Hershey and Nestle. Thatcher tested Hershey and Kroger brand. Woroszylo, and Burgan and Koch used texture, flavor, aftertaste, appearance and smell to rate the chocolate chips in terms of taste characteristics. Thatcher used texture, flavor, aftertaste, appearance, smell, and overall rating to rate the chocolate chips in terms of taste characteristics. Woroszylo, Burgan and Koch, and Thatcher used different scales of measurement to determine the importance of chocolate chip ratings. Woroszylo used a 5-point Likert scale to measure taste characteristics (1= very bad and 5= very good) and a 5-point Likert scale to measure the importance of taste characteristics (1 = unimportant and 5 = important). Thatcher measured taste and overall liking on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = dislike and 5 = excellent) and a 5-point Likert scale to measure importance of taste characteristics (1= very low importance and 5 = very high importance). Burgan and Koch measured taste characteristics on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = disgusting and 5 =

Burgan and Koch (2009) indicated no significant difference for the six taste characteristics. Thatcher (2008) indicated Hershey has higher ratings on all taste characteristics over Kroger.

Importance Ratings Woroszylo (2012) reported importance ratings from low to high: appearance, texture, smell, aftertaste, and flavor. Burgan and Koch (2009) reported importance ratings from low to high: texture, appearance, smell, aftertaste, and flavor. Thatcher (2008) reported importance ratings from high to low: flavor, aftertaste, smell, texture, and appearance. Texture and appearance were the lowest on the ranking of importance. Woroszylo indicated significant differences between all importance ratings except smell and texture. Thatcher indicated significant differences between all importance ratings except the comparison between texture and appearance.

Hypothesis

Participants will prefer sweet chocolate chips. Chocolate chips will be consumed sometimes. Flavor will be the most important taste characteristic, while appearance will be the leave important taste