Statistical aggregation

What AreaCacao computes

AreaCacao aggregates the panel's responses automatically. While the tasting is open, the Results section shows it as a real-time preview; when you click Close tasting and lock results, the analysis is locked.

Per sample and per attribute

• Mean: the average of the panel's scores.
• Standard deviation (SD): the spread. A high SD means the panel does not agree.
• n: how many panelists scored that attribute for that sample.

Comparison across samples (3 or more)

• ANOVA (Analysis of Variance): a statistical test that detects whether the means across samples are statistically different. It is computed per attribute when there are at least 3 samples scored by at least 3 panelists each. If at least 3 panelists scored every sample, a two-way ANOVA with the panelist as a block is used (each judge's bias is removed from the error term); otherwise, a one-way ANOVA.
• Tukey HSD: if the ANOVA returns p < 0.05, this post-hoc test identifies which pairs of samples differ significantly.

How to interpret the ANOVA

• p < 0.05 → there is a significant difference between at least two samples. Tukey HSD tells you which ones.
• p ≥ 0.05 → you cannot claim the samples differ. They may be the same, or the panel may not have detected the difference.

How to interpret Tukey HSD

When the ANOVA detects differences, Tukey HSD groups the samples into homogeneous groups and expresses them with letters (ᵃ, ᵇ, ᶜ): samples that share a letter do not differ significantly from one another. At a glance, you know which samples are indistinguishable to your panel and which ones stand out. This is the basis for practical decisions (for example, "batch A and batch C share a letter: they are interchangeable for our panel").

How to read it in the results table

In the tasting's Results section, the table in the descriptive (or hedonic) report presents this aggregation as follows:

• Each row is an attribute from the protocol.
• Each column is a sample, identified by its blind code.
• In each cell you will see the mean ± standard deviation of the panel for that attribute and that sample.
• The Tukey letters (ᵃ, ᵇ, ᶜ) appear as superscripts next to the mean: samples that share a letter do not differ significantly.
• The ANOVA (p value) column summarizes whether the attribute varies across samples, with a badge, the p value, and the F statistic with its degrees of freedom:
  • Difference (green) — there is a statistically significant difference.
  • No difference (gray) — no difference is detected.
  • n/a — there is not enough data for the test.

At the bottom of the table you will see this exact note:

Mean ± standard deviation per sample. Letters (ᵃ ᵇ ᶜ) indicate Tukey groups: samples sharing a letter do not differ significantly (α = 0.05).

Attributes with a significant difference between samples are also marked with an asterisk (*) in the spider chart.

Honest limitations

• ANOVA and Tukey HSD are only computed with at least 3 samples and 3 panelists per sample; below that, the table shows n/a. With small panels, even when they are computed, the result is indicative only.
• They assume normality and homogeneity of variances (the usual assumptions). If your tasting has a very heterogeneous panel, consider external non-parametric analyses.
• The table shows aggregates per attribute and sample (mean ± SD), not the raw responses of each panelist one by one. There is also no CSV or Excel export from the results screen; you review and interpret the analysis within the tasting itself.