Consumer testing are trials in which participants test three different technologies as for example varieties of apples. In this type of trials participants evaluate trait such as taste, texture or appearance.
Category: Tricot: Key terms and definitions
On-farm trial
On-farm trails are tricot experiments conducted on the fields of participants. Participants in this case are farmers, and their role is to test throughout the growing season the three different technologies in their fields.
Trial dimensions
Plot size Plot sizes should generally be small, for the following reasons. With the same amount of seeds, more farmers can participate. Tricot is about external validity, so capturing the diversity in use contexts is important. Small plots sizes allow farmers with small farms to participate. This makes tricot trials more inclusive and representative. Small […]
Administrator
The administrator is the person or organization who coordinates the tricot project. It’s the project manager. The administrator could be a scientist working at a research institute, or at an NGO, governmental extension service, etc. If the adminstrator is not a scientist, she or he might collaborate with scientists or a research institute to develop […]
Citizen science
Citizen science is scientific research conducted by non-professional (or amateur) scientists, so-called citizen scientists. Citizen Science projects aim to advance research, as well as further the public’s understanding of science and scientific problems. In a tricot project, the citizen scientists are called participants (observers, who can be farmers or consumers). They are not professional scientists, […]
Field agent
The field agent is the extension worker, linking the implementer and the participants. A tricot project might employ 20 to 30 field agents. Each field agent can cover a different geographical region, and can coordinate 10 to 20 participants. Field agents are vital to a tricot project, as they allow many small trials to take […]
Participant
A participant (observer) is a farmer or consumer, and participates in a tricot project as an individual citizen scientist. Participants should be both women and men. Participants can be recruited by the administrator or the field agents. To participate in on-farm trials, observers (farmers) only need to allocate a small patch of their farm or garden […]
Incomplete block design
Incomplete block design refers to an experimental setup in which not all treatments occur in one block. In the case of tricot, this means that not all technology options (= treatments) occur in each individual trial (=block). Instead, each participant cultivates or tests just three technology options in her/his trial (for example, three randomly assigned […]
Observation card
Observation cards are used by the participants to record their field observations during different stages of the tricot trial. These paper cards are distributed by the field agents at the initial training event. Over the course of the trial period, the growers fill them out, using a pen. Observation cards get designed by the project […]
Ranking
Ranking is a way of describing the relationship between two items, for example, one being ‘bigger than’ the other. Ranking data is common, for example, in sports (‘Claire ran faster than Anna’), or in consumer studies (‘Consumers like apples better than pears, and pears better than strawberries’). In tricot project, participants observe their technology options and […]