Descriptive Analysis Workbook Scale Range Usage

Descriptive Analysis Workbook Scale Range Usage

What is it?

Scale Range Usage is one of the sheets in the Descriptive Analysis Workbook . A table with the mean range scores based on a logarithmic scale for each panelist.   The calculation takes place across all samples, sessions, and attributes.

Why would I use it?

Find out which panelists are using a small portion of the scale by attribute.

Setup options



To generate the Scale Range Usage sheet, under 2. Select Options , select Panelist performance summary .  Update the thresholds as required.



Analysis Overview

Using the log allows us to compare the relative difference since the means will vary from attribute to attribute so it doesn't make sense to use a linear scale.



  1. Panel Range Usage . The log of the ratio of the panel mean for a specific attribute to that of all attributes.

A positive value occurs when the grand attribute range is greater than the grand range of all attributes.
- Attribute has larger scale usage compared to the range of all attributes.
A negative value occurs when the grand attribute range is less than the grand range of all attributes.
- Attribute has smaller scale usage compared to the range of all attributes.
The larger the value, the bigger the difference in the scale range usage.

  1. Panelists Scale Range Usage . The log of the ratio of the panelist range for a specific attribute to that of panel range for that attribute.

A positive value occurs when the attribute panelist range is greater than the attribute grand range.
- Panelist is using a larger range of the scale for the attribute than panel range of the attribute.
A negative value occurs when the attribute panelist range is smaller than the attribute grand range.
- Panelist is using a smaller range of the scale for the attribute than the panel range of the attribute.
The larger the value, the bigger the difference in the scale range usage.

  1. Distance of the Panelist Scale Range Usage (number inside bracket) . Distance of the panelist scale range usage from the average of all panelist scale range usages by attribute.

A positive value occurs when the panelist range usage is greater than the average of all panelist scale range usages. 
- Panelist is using a larger scale range for the attribute than the panel range for that attribute.
A negative value occurs when the panelist scale range usage is less than the average of all panelist scale range usages.
- Panelist is using a scale range for the attribute than the panel range for that attribute.
The larger the value, the bigger the difference in the scale range usage.


  1. Highlighted cells . Distance of the panelist scale range usage from the panel scale range usage by attribute is greater than the preset threshold.


A difference of 10, 20 and 30 represents 2x, 4x and 8x the panel mean.
The yellow highlighting quickly identifies panelists using 2x outside of the panel range for all attributes. The number tells you in which direction and how large the difference is. The number in brackets gives you an idea of the scale range usage difference within the specific attribute.

  1. Percentage . The number of attributes below the preset threshold/ the total number of attributes *100.

Example Conclusion

We see that all Panel Range Usages are negative, indicating they all use a smaller scale than the Grand Range of all attributes. This can be expected if there is a large variation from attribute to attribute on the scale usage. For example, Brown Colour, Opacity and Viscosity are outside of the threshold for all panelists as well as have the largest Panel Range Usages. This is because of the relatively small scale used due to the attributes not varying too much between samples, as seen in Scale Mean Usage and various other sheets.

Looking this time at Tabitha Rouse, we see for Sweetness Aroma she is using a larger range of the scale for the attribute than the panel.