Consumer data arising from traditional scales frequently do not comply with
ANOVA assumptions of normality, independence and homoscedasticity. Differe
ntial expansiveness of scoring between assessors is also a limitation in th
e use of scales. The self-adjusting scale was designed to minimize some of
these problems but its performance with consumers has not been reported. Th
is study compared the performance of the 9-point hedonic scale, the self-ad
justing scale and the ranking test with respect to: differential expansiven
ess between assessors, discriminating power and compliance of data with ANO
VA assumptions. Candies were evaluated by 288 consumers. Data normality was
checked by normal probability plots, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and coefficie
nts of skewness and kurtosis. Homoscedasticity assumptions were evaluated b
y the Levene test and scatterplots. The self-adjusting scale was effective
to deal with differential assessor expansiveness, produced homogeneous vari
ances but its data showed gross deviations from normality. Hedonic scale da
ta showed slight deviation from normality and lack of homoscedasticity. Ran
k and self-adjusting scale showed the highest and the lowest discriminating
power, respectively. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.