Abstract
One of the main steps related to the implementation of reference‐based sensory characterization methodologies is the selection of the references, sometimes referred to as poles. However, research on the influence of the reference selection on the results from these methodologies is scarce. In this context, the aim of the present work was to evaluate the influence of the poles on results from Polarized projective mapping (PPM). Three groups of consumers evaluated two sets of six samples of powdered drinks using three different sets of poles. Results showed that the set of poles did not largely affect sample configurations and consumers' descriptions. However, some differences in sample configurations were identified when the poles did not represent the whole sensory space represented by the sample sets.
Practical Applications
Results of the present work bring light to researchers on how to select poles for a PPM or PSP task. Given the fact that conclusions from PPM with different sets of poles did not largely differ, pole selection seems to be quite flexible. However, it seems advisable to select poles that represent the whole sensory space defined by the samples to be evaluated and that have an intermediate degree of difference among them. Also, more research applications on different categories of samples would be advised, as well as further research on the influence of the poles on results from other approaches for measuring the degree of difference between samples and poles.