Assessment of the consistency of ideal profiles according to non-ideal data for IPM

The Ideal Profile Method is a sensory method, in which consumers are asked to describe both the perceived and the ideal intensities on a list of attributes, as well as answering acceptance questions for each product tested. At the end of test, one gets from each consumer three blocks of data: the product profiles, their ideal profile and the acceptance scores of the products. The ideal profiles can be used to help improving the existing products. But before using the ideals, one has to assess the consistency of such data by comparing them to the other descriptions provided (sensory and hedonic). This consistency is defined by answering two major questions: (1) Are the ideal descriptions in agreement with the other descriptions? (2) Would the ideal products obtained be more appreciated than the products tested? The assessment for consistency of the ideals is performed at both the panel and the consumer level. In the perfume example used for illustration, it appears that the panel is globally consistent, although individual consumers show more variability. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.