Factor Patterns Yielded by Subsets of Panelists Examining Finnish Sour Rye Bread

A combination of Bartlett's sphericity test, cluster analysis, factor analysis and Kendall's tau test were utilized to compare the responses of small subsets of panelists to learn whether the factor pattern for panel results pooled was based on agreement among the factor patterns of individual panelists or was merely the mean of a group of diverse patterns. Only tests available in general statistical packages were employed so as to make the procedure one which most investigators could use. The source of the sensory data was descriptive profile analysis applied to 12 attributes of Finnish wholemeal sour rye bread. The factor patterns of the panelists were mostly similar.