Correspondence: Nancy K. Keith, Department of Marketing, College of Business Administration, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO 65897, USA

¹is Professor of Quantitative Business Analysis in the Department of Marketing at Missouri State University and an MSU University Fellow, and did her PhD from Purdue University. Her research, primarily involving statistical modelling for Business and the Biosciences, has appeared in numerous journals such as Decision Sciences.

²is a professor of Marketing at Missouri State University and did his DBA from Louisiana Tech University. He has served in the Marketing Management Association in numerous capacities, and is currently co-editor of Marketing Management Journal. His teaching and research interests lie in the areas of Sales and Sales Management.

³graduated cum laude with a BS in Marketing from Missouri State University. Currently, she is a graduate student finishing her MBA with an emphasis on Marketing at Missouri State University. Her research interests lie in the areas of Consumer Behaviour, Ethics and International Marketing.

Received 6 April 2009; Revised 6 April 2009; Published online 15 June 2009.

Abstract

As companies attempt the risky process of introducing new products and modifying existing ones, many engage in field experiments in which untrained volunteer respondents are used to assess product characteristics and preference. Because discrimination test designs currently employed by marketing researchers have inherent limitations and can independently lead to different results, examinations of other potentially useful design models is vitally important. This paper introduces the switchback experimental design to the marketing literature as an alternative research design for testing new products. The switchback design is recommended for product-testing situations where context effects and respondent reliability issues are anticipated. The design allows for measurement of the effect of product-testing order on a respondent's cognitive and affective judgments, and provides a direct measure of respondent judgment variability. This paper also presents the results of an empirical evaluation of the switchback design for a discrimination taste test. The switchback design promises more accurate feedback regarding both consumer product preference and discrimination, which should lead to better decisions on both new product development and product modification.