TASTE PREFERENCES BETWEEN TWO ORANGE JUICES
Margarita Rasskazova, Tera Gahlsdorf, Amy Checkman, Susan Liberman
Lewis and Clark College
Abstract
A taste preference experiment was conducted in order
to evaluate whether a name brand orange juice will
be preferred over a generic brand of orange juice.
The preference for a particular orange juice was self
reported by 34 Ss on Lewis and Clark campus and evaluated
on the Likert scale ranging from 1 to 7. A paired t-test
was used to evaluate the results, which indicated the
preference for the generic Fred Meyer's juice over
the Minute Maid which contradicted the anticipated
outcome of the experiment.
Taste Preferences between Brand Name and Generic
Brand of Orange Juice Concentrates
The increasing number of products' brands on the market
often times leaves a consumer with perplexing choices.
Establishing one's preference for a certain brand of
product becomes a part of one's shopping routine.
Choosing between different brands for orange juices
people often refer to their favorite brand. Name brands
such as Minute Maid are generally more expensive and
presented to the market in a fancier packages compared
to the generic brands.
Taste experiments became very common in psychology
which reflects researcher's interest with the consumer's
preference and their justification. A similar experiment
was conducted testing the accuracy of the consumer's
evaluation of the type of cola beverage they have tasted
( Thumin, 1962). Present research report was formatted
in accordance with the fourth edition of APA Publication
Manual (American Psychological Association, 1994).
In this study we attempted to evaluate participants'
preference between two brands of Orange Juices: Minute
Maid and Generic Fred Meyer's juice. Based on the
common experience and higher price for the name brand
of orange juice the hypothesis was proposed that Minute
Maid brand of orange juice will get a higher rating
on the scale.
Method
Participants
Thirty four subjects were recruited in the Lewis and
Clark library to participate in this experiment. All
of the volunteers were given a consent form to sign
( see Appendix A) and thoroughly explained the requirements
of the experiment.
Materials
Both types of orange juice were placed in the identical
looking bottles and clearly labeled X and Y prior to
the beginning of the experiment. The double blind technique
was used for only two of four assistance knew what
juice was in which bottle. The bottles were placed
on two opposite sides of the table with the stack of
cups that were also labeled on the bottom X or Y in
case a confusion might occur. Each cup contained 2
ounces of the beverage at an approximate room temperature.
Both of the juices presented were made of concentrate
to eliminate the possibility of taste discrepancy due
to the concentrate-pure juice differences.
Procedure
After signing the consent form, each participant was
presented with two cups of orange juice as the experimenter
read them the instructions. Instructions were as follows:
We would like you to try two different types of orange
juices and then rate your preference on the scale
from 1 to 7. Please start with eating half of your
saltine. After your are ready please start with the
one on the right and rate it on the first scale of
your form. After you are done, finish your saltine
and proceed with the one on the left.
The order in which each subject tasted juices was counterbalanced
to control for order effects. Likewise two extreme
ratings on the Likert scale were switched places for
each second subject. The original form looked like
this:
Really like it 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Don't like it at all
Results
The paired t-test was used to determine the preference
for a particular brand. The test showed that the preference
for a generic Fred Meyer's brand (M= 2.824, SD = 1.604)
over Minute Maid
(M= 3.529, SD= 1.542) was statistically significant
t(34) = 2.425,
p < .05. The results showed that our hypothesis that
the name brand will be preferred over the generic brand
is wrong and that unaware of what juice they are drinking
people would prefer the taste of generic brand.
Discussion
The present study clearly demonstrated how easily common
believes can be proved wrong with the help of a simple
experiment. Even though slightly higher price, more
effective package and wide advertisement of name brands
like Minute Maid usually determine greater consumers'
preference for this product, when unaware of what juice
they are drinking the taste of the generic brand is
clearly a preference.
Only a small difference of .706 between the ratings
of two juices can be explained by the common believe
that we noticed being voiced during the experiment.
Many subjects thought they were being deceived and
actually asked to try the same orange juice twice,
and therefore several subjects rated both juices very
close on the scale being afraid that they are being
deceived.
References
American Psychological Association. (1994). Publication
Manual. Washington D.C. : American Psychological Association.
Thumin, F.J. (1962). Identification of Cola Beverages.
Journal of Applied Psychology, 46(5), 358-360.