An Optimal Design through a Compound Criterion for Integrating Extra Preference Information in a Choice Experiment: A Case Study on Moka Ground Coffee

Rossella Berni (), Nedka Dechkova Nikiforova and Patrizia Pinelli
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Rossella Berni: Department of Statistics Computer Science Applications “G. Parenti”, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy
Nedka Dechkova Nikiforova: Department of Statistics Computer Science Applications “G. Parenti”, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy
Patrizia Pinelli: Department of Statistics Computer Science Applications “G. Parenti”, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy

Stats, 2024, vol. 7, issue 2, 1-16

Abstract: In this manuscript, we propose an innovative approach to studying consumers’ preferences for coffee, which integrates a choice experiment with consumer sensory tests and chemical analyses (caffeine contents obtained through a High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) method). The same choice experiment is administered on two consecutive occasions, i.e., before and after the guided tasting session, to analyze the role of tasting and awareness about coffee composition in the consumers’ preferences. To this end, a Bayesian optimal design, based on a compound design criterion, is applied in order to build the choice experiment; the compound criterion allows for addressing two main issues related to the efficient estimation of the attributes and the evaluation of the sensorial part, e.g., the HPLC effects and the scores obtained through the consumer sensory test. All these elements, e.g., the attributes involved in the choice experiment, the scores obtained for each coffee through the sensory tests, and the HPLC quantitative evaluation of caffeine, are analyzed through suitable Random Utility Models. The initial results are promising, confirming the validity of the proposed approach.

Keywords: Mixed Logit; Coordinate-Exchange algorithm; sensory test; respondents’ heterogeneity; scoring card; caffeine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C1 C10 C11 C14 C15 C16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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