Validity of the sensory evaluation scales for fresh flower scent

Abstract

Scales for a sensory evaluation of fresh flower scents were evaluated in this study on the assumption that the evaluators are not specialists. Sixteen 7-point bipolar scales, established in previous study (Takeuchi et al, 1995), were used. Evaluators assessed 30 different types of flowers that encompassed different cultivars and genera. Uniformity of evaluation was tested by split- half coefficients, whereas reproducibility was assessed by correlation coefficients. Both were shown to be statistically sufficient. Moreover, there was an improvement in reliability when the two scales, "Light-Heavy" and "Cloying-Plain", were removed from the evaluation procedure.