understanding the results

Interpretation----

How might we interpret the results of the Creative Product Analysis evaluations for these two products? Both are commercially available bars of fancy bath soap. The scores for this little demonstration (using just 31 participants) reflected the perceptions of the participants as they completed the Creative Product Semantic Scale instruments for each of the two products.

Overall, there were statistically significant differences between the two products, with probabilities at the <.05 level in each dimension. Let's look at the scores, and the differences, dimension by dimension, starting with Novelty, then moving to Resolution, then to Style.

Novelty

It's clear that the scores for the rock shaped soap were significantly higher on both Novelty facets, Surprising and Original. Mean scores ranged from 4.35 to 4.71 for the flower soap to average scores of 5.2 and nearly 6 (5.96) for the rock soap on the facet of Original. These are extremely high average scores, since the range of the instrument is 1-7. We can say that participants found the rock shaped soap to be substantially more original and surprising than the soap with the flower. These scores reflect the surprise that participants experienced when they realized that the rock shaped object was actually soap, and not a mineral fragment.

Resolution

Both products scored well on the Resolution facets, and they were relatively close together. There are no statistically significant differences on the facets of Logical, Useful or Valuable, but statistically significant differences were seen between the mean scores for Understandable. Participants expressed, through their scores, that they found the flower soap to be more understandable than the rock soap. The statistics confirm our own intuitions, and they are related to the Novelty judgment of Surprise seen above. Mean scores on the Resolution facets ranged from a low (for Valuable) of 3.80 (for the flower soap) to a high of 5.30 (for Useful for the rock soap). It is interesting to note that the rock soap was perceived to be slightly more useful than the flower soap.

Style

Here is where we see high scores across the board. Since these are fancy designer soaps, it is not surprising that consumer-judges found their presentation values to be high. On all three facets of Style, scores were 5 or above. Judges' mean scores suggest that participants found the rock soap (5.54) more Well-Crafted than the flower soap (5.17), but mean scores for the Organic qualities of the flower soap (5.47) were slightly higher than the mean scores for the rock soap (5.23). This was not a statistically significant difference. Likewise, mean scores for Elegant were just slightly higher for the flower soap (5.48) than for the rock soap (5.43).