A single-response emotion word questionnaire for measuring product-related emotional associations inspired by a circumplex model of core affect: Method characterisation with an applied focus

Abstract

Product-centric emotion research can deepen understanding of consumers’ product experiences and food choices. Emotion measurement has become widespread in product research, and questionnaires where consumers respond to emotion words are popular and manifold. The present research adds to this multiplicity by presenting a parsimonious single-response questionnaire that spans the dimensions of pleasure and arousal, and their combinations. These are represented in a circular layout with 12 axes radiating from a central point. Each of the arms represents an emotion domain that is exemplified by two emotion words, and consumers’ task is to select the word pair that best represents how they feel. The questionnaire is informed by a circumplex model of human core affect, and methodological aspects relevant for use in applied product research were investigated in 23 consumer studies (n = 104–270 participants per study) spanning a very broad range of products and categories. The first of four research questions (RQ) established that the questionnaire is suitable for use with tasted stimuli (12 studies, 1 of which with aroma stimuli), written stimuli (10 studies) and image stimuli (1 study) (RQ1). Suitability of the questionnaire with New Zealand consumers was confirmed, and extended to Chinese consumers who took part in 7 of the 23 studies (RQ2). Responses obtained using the questionnaire appeared to be repeatable (RQ3a), and based on the criterion of the regression vector (RV) coefficient being equal to or greater than 0.95, stability (RQ3b) could be achieved with as few as 30 consumers despite only obtaining a single response per consumer per stimulus. Finally, it was found that the degree of differences between stimuli in a study influenced discrimination, which was larger when stimuli were more different (RQ4). This intuitively made sense and mirrored past research. By capturing the valence × arousal space, this questionnaire spans more broadly than most emotion word questionnaires for applied and product-focused research, and a notable feature of the obtained responses was that all were relevant (to a larger or smaller extent) in each of the 23 studies. The results are specific to the tested questionnaire variant and future research is needed to determine its goodness-of-fit to the underpinning circumplex model. Comparisons with existing product emotion research questionnaires are yet to be performed, as is testing of questionnaire variants.