Dados do Trabalho

Título

Free Drawing as an innovative alternative to Free Listing to obtain food consumption information: An intracultural study in Brazil with dairy products and adolescents

Introdução

Projective methods have been successfully applied in food science, particularly consumer research. Recently, constructive approaches based on expression through drawings have shown promise. Free listing has been constantly used for various purposes in the food sector and as a standard method to evaluate the applicability of other qualitative sensory methods. However, the Free Drawing method has been scarcely applied. This study aimed to evaluate the Free Drawing method to assess food consumption information compared to the Free Listing method. Furthermore, the citation frequencies of dairy products consumed by adolescents were compared in Brazilian regions.

Material e Métodos

Adolescents (n= 265, n= 53 for each region, North, South, Northeast, Midwest, and Southeast regions, 14-17 years old) listed or drew the dairy products they consumed using Free Listing or Free Drawing. The contingency tables were constructed, and the cognitive saliency indexes (CSI) were calculated. Multiple Factor Analysis (MFA) was performed, and the RV indices were determined.

Resultados e Discussão

The adolescents drew/listed 55 dairy products, grouped into 10 categories (milk, cheese, condensed milk, milk cream, fermented milk, ice cream, butter, milk drink, powdered milk, and dulce de leche). The Free Listing method resulted in greater citation frequencies of dairy products. The Free Drawing method resulted in more detailed and richer information, with specifications of the product type (flavor, type of packaging, and brand). The dairy products with the highest citation frequencies/CSI by adolescents were milk, cheese, and fermented milk. The South and Southeast regions observed greater diversity of dairy products (prevalence in 6 categories), and citation frequencies. The CSI did not depend on the method, but it was affected by the region (p <0.05). The sensory methods showed high similarity considering the regions (RV = 0.79), and categories of dairy products (RV = 0.80).

Conclusão

In conclusion, the Free Drawing method proved to be an alternative to Free Listing for evaluating adolescents' consumption information of dairy products in an intracultural study in Brazil.