Further investigations into the reproducibility of check-all-that-apply (CATA) questions for sensory product characterization elicited by consumers

The purpose of the present research was further investigate the reproducibility of check-all-that-apply (CATA) questions for sensory product characterization. Evaluations obtained when such questions are used by consumers are rarely replicated and therefore reproducibility of the data may be at risk. Results from the present work, which included five studies, each with 100–200 consumers across a range of product categories, revealed that sensory product characterizations obtained using CATA questions with consumers are highly reproducible. Hence, the research confirms previous research by Jaeger, Chheang, et al. (2013) and extends it to the use of CATA terms in randomised presentation order as has been recommended to avoid satisficing response behavior. In the future, if CATA studies are conducted without replication and researches seek to examine the reliability of CATA data, the use of a posterior bootstrapping re-sampling approach is suggested.