Product characterization in sensory analysis using XLSTAT-MX
Dataset for Product characterization XLS183 KB
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MX Market research and sensory analysis software
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System configuration
- Windows:
- Versions: 9x/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista/Win 7
- Excel: 97 and later
- Processor: 32 or 64 bits
- Hard disk: 150 Mb
- Mac OS X:
- OS: OS X
- Excel: X, 2004 and 2011
- Hard disk: 150Mb.
- Windows:
Benefits
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Easy and user-friendly
Easy and user-friendly XLSTAT is flawlessly integrated with Microsoft Excel which is the most popular spreadsheet worldwide. This integration makes it one of the simplest available tools to work with as it utilizes the same philosophy as Microsoft Excel. The program is accessible in a dedicated XLSTAT tab. The analyses are grouped into functional menus. The dialog boxes are user-friendly and setting up an analysis is straightforward.
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Data and results shared seamlessly
Data and results shared seamlessly One of the greatest advantages of XLSTAT is the way you can share data and results seamlessly. As the results are stored in Microsoft Excel, anyone can access them. There is no need for the receiver to have an XLSTAT license or any additional viewer which makes your team-work easier and more affordable. In addition, results are easily integrable into other Microsoft Office software such as PowerPoint, so that you can create striking presentation in minutes.
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Modular
Modular XLSTAT is a modular product. XLSTAT-Pro is a core statistical module of XLSTAT which includes all the mainstream functionalities in statistics and multivariate analysis. More advanced features contained in add-on modules can be added for specific applications. This way you can adapt the software to your needs making the software more cost-efficient.
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Didactic
Didactic The results of XLSTAT are organized by analysis and are easy to navigate. Moreover useful information is provided along with the results to assist you in your interpretation.
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Affordable
Affordable XLSTAT is a complete and modular analytical solution that can suit any analytical business needs. It is very reasonably priced so that the return of your investment is almost immediate. Any XLSTAT license comes with top level support and assistance.
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Accessible - Available in many languages
Accessible - Available in many languages We have ensured XLSTAT is accessible to everyone by making the program available in many languages, including Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish.
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Automatable and customizable
Automatable and customizable Most of the statistical functions available in XLSTAT can be called directly from the Visual Basic window of Microsoft Excel. They can be modified and integrated to more code to fit to the specificity of your domain. Adding tables and plots as well as modifying existing outputs becomes easy. Furthermore, XLSTAT includes some special tools on the dialog boxes to generate automatically the VBA code in order to reproduce your analysis using the VBA editor or to simply load pre-set settings. This effortless automation of routine analysis will be a huge time saver on your part.
Dataset for product characterization
An Excel sheet with both the data and the results can be downloaded by clicking here.
The data correspond to a sensorial test on 6 chocolate drinks (Husson F. & Pagès J. (2003). Comparison of sensory profiles done by trained and untrained juries: methodology and results, Journal of Sensory Studies, 18 (6), pp. 453-464). 29 assessors have tested 6 drinks and gave grades on 16 characteristics. There has been two testing sessions. We won’t use the session factor in this tutorial.
Goal of this tutorial
Our goal is to quickly find the main characteristics of the chocolate drinks.
Setting up a product characterization
After opening XLSTAT, click the MX button in the ribbon and select Product characterization (see below).
Once you've clicked on the button, the dialog box appears. Select the data on the Excel sheet.
You have first to select the descriptors (or characteristics), then the products column and the judges column. As we selected the column title for the variables, we left the option Variable labels activated.
In the options tab, we select the simplest model Y=P+J.
Once you have clicked on the OK button, the computation starts. The results will then be displayed.
Interpretation of the results of a product characterization
The first results displayed by XLSTAT are the basic statistics associated to the characteristics and to the judges and products columns.
Then, the second table contains the characteristics ordered from the one that has the highest discriminating power to the one that has the lowest discriminating power on the chocolate drinks. We can see that the milk taste has a high discriminating power. Associated test values and p-values are also displayed.
The next table, which appears partially bellow (only for choc1), contains the most important outputs of the analysis of variance models (here we have applied 16 analysis of variance models). Models coefficients, estimated means, test values and confidence intervals are displayed.
The following graphic is very helpful to define our product (here choc1). The blue color is associated to coefficients that have a significant positive value and the red color is associated to coefficients that have a significant negative value. We can see that choc1 has a cocoa aspect (cocoa), it is strongly bitter and acid. It is not sweet and does not taste like milk.
Finally, the last table corresponds to the adjusted means for each combination product-characteristic. The blue color corresponds to means that are significantly greater than the global mean and the red color corresponds to means that are significantly smaller than the global mean. We can see very quickly, that choc1 is a product with a cocoa taste and aspect and which is bitter and acid. Choc3 is a chocolate drink which is very sweet and has a strong milk taste.
This quick analysis gives us a clear view of our products. The characterization of products is in the same time a very rigorous method (using statistical methods) and a very easy to interpret tool.