Comparison of different panels sorting tasks with hierarchical multiple factor analysis

Abstract

Hierarchical multiple factor analysis is a suitable tool for giving account of the evaluation of a same set of items by hierarchically structured sets of individuals. This method is applied to compare trained and non-trained panels in wine hall tests. Every panellist has to categorize the wines in clusters, describe them with free descriptive words and also give a hedonic score. Data coding leads to a wine × individual evaluation table in which the columns present a hierarchical structure. Hierarchical multiple factor analysis allows for exploring and visualizing the observed variability among both wines and panellists. Visualizing tools are also offered to evaluate the similarity between panels and sets of panels.