This International Standard describes a procedure allowing to determine whether there exists a perceptible sensory difference or a similarity between samples of two products concerning the intensity of a sensory attribute. This test is sometimes also referred to as a directional difference test or a 2-AFC test (Alternative Forced Choice). Indeed, the paired comparison test is a forced choice test between two alternatives.
NOTE: The paired comparison test is the simplest existing classification test since it concerns only two samples.
The method is applicable whether a difference exists in a single sensory attribute or in several, which means that it allows to determine whether there exists a perceptible difference concerning a given attribute, to specify the direction of difference, but it does not give any indications regarding the extent of the difference. The absence of difference for the attribute under study does not signify that there does not exist any difference between the two products.
This method is only applicable if the products are relatively homogeneous.
The method is effective for:
1) determining:
- whether a perceptible difference exists (paired difference test), or
- whether no perceptible difference exists (paired similarity test), when, for example, modifications are made to ingredients, to processing, to packaging, to handling or storage operations;
2) or selecting, training and monitoring assessors.
It is necessary to know, prior to carrying out the test, whether the test is a one-sided test (the test supervisor has an a priori concerning the direction of the difference and the alternative hypothesis corresponds to the existence of a difference in the expected direction) or a two-sided test (the test supervisor does not have any a priori concerning the direction of the difference and the alternative hypothesis corresponds to the existence of a difference in one direction or the other).