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MAPPING IN PRODUCT TESTING AND SENSORY ANALYSIS: A WELL LIT PATH OR A DARK STATISTICAL LABYRINTH?
Author(s) -
MOSKOWITZ HOWARD
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of sensory studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.61
H-Index - 53
eISSN - 1745-459X
pISSN - 0887-8250
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-459x.2002.tb00343.x
Subject(s) - computer science , representation (politics) , space (punctuation) , product (mathematics) , path (computing) , artificial intelligence , sensory system , computer vision , mathematics , psychology , cognitive psychology , geometry , politics , political science , law , programming language , operating system
Mapping is a popularly accepted statistical method, currently used in many applications in order to reveal and perhaps understand relations between stimuli. This paper discusses some of the shortcomings of mapping as a procedure, specifically those having to do with the ‘actionability’ of the data. The paper recommends that mapping be used to embed the stimuli in a geometric space, but then the coordinates of that space be used as independent variables in a model. In this way the geometrical representation does not stop at being a ‘pretty picture’ without further utility, but instead incorporates within it the necessary tools to allow researchers to go from any location in the space to any other location.