Abstract:

As respondents often have difficulty communicating the strength of their feelings, verbal altitudinal response can be a poor predictor of consumer behaviour. However, when physiological data is added to measure the intensity of TRUE feelings an accurate measure of attitude ensues. This paper describes a technique - VOPAN - that measures the positive/negative direction of an attitude through verbal "yes/no" responses and the intensity of feeling through voice pitch analysis. VOPAN is a technique that measures physiological reactions requiring only the use of a tape recorder thereby giving a very natural interviewing environment. We also look at 3 case studies that describe how the technique has been applied to:- a) provide greater sensitivity in fragrance research b) provide greater comparability in multi-country research.