Methods in Consumer Research, Volume 1

Gastón Ares works as a professor and researcher in the Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, University of the Republic (UdelaR). He works in the area of Sensory and Consumer Science Assessment, working particularly on methodological aspects of new product development and the study of consumer perception. He has extensive experience in research through participation in numerous projects at national and international level. In 2011 he won the prize "Food Quality and Preference Elsevier Award for a Young Researcher". He serves as a reviewer for several journals in the area and is a member of the Editorial Committee of the Journal of Sensory Studies journals and Food Quality and Preference. Paula's research has focused on the exploration of new methodologies to further understanding sensory and consumer perception, in particular sensory descriptive techniques with the use of consumers and the influence of non-sensory parameters in consumer food choice. She is a member of the Editorial Board and Guest Editor of Food Research International and of Current Opinion in Food Science. She also has a part-time associate professor position in in sensory and consumer science at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU).

• Section 1: Theoretical and methodological considerations on consumer research1. Recent advances in consumer research2. Complexity of consumer perception3. Psychographics: Personality variables in consumer research4. Contextual influences on consumer responses to food products5. Ethics in sensory and consumer researchSection 2: Qualitative research6. New approaches to focus groups7. Projective techniques8. Ethnography and observational methods in consumer research9. Application of social media for consumer research10. Text mining11. Design thinking, co-creation and consumer involvement in research and innovationSection 3: Quantitative direct methods12. Conjoint analysis in sensory and consumer science: Principles, applications and future perspectives13. Affect-based discrimination14. Emotional responses to products15. Consumer-based methodologies for sensory characterization16. Measuring the dynamics of consumer perception17. Statistical approaches to consumer segmentation18. Measuring consumer expectations19. Situational appropriateness in food consumer research20. Experimental economics to evaluate consumer preferencesSection 4: Quantitative indirect methods21. Measuring implicit associations in food-related consumer research22. Automatic facial expressions analysis in consumer science23. Eye tracking in consumer research24. Physiological measurements: EEG and fMRI