Consumption context in consumer research: methodological perspectives

- Eating occasion influence consumer responses to food and beverages.
- Item-by-use (IBU) appropriateness is a simple way for matching products to consumption context.
- Central location tests do not represent natural eating occasions/environments.
- Several approaches exist for evoking/simulating consumption central location tests.
- Ecological validity should to considered in the general context of validity in consumer research.

This review and opinion paper considers methods available to consumer researchers in product-focused investigations who wish to: (i) appraise or account for appropriateness of product use, and (ii) increase aspects of ecological validity and/or mitigate effects linked to the central location test (CLT) setting not being a natural consumption situation. The topics and methods covered are: appropriateness of product use, item-by-use (IBU) method, non-CLT settings (incl. natural eating locations, field tests and home-use-tests (HUT)), contextualised CLT protocols, evoked consumption contexts, immersive settings and virtual reality. The concluding parts of the paper considers ecological validity and encourages a deeper engagement with this construct in the broader context of validity in consumer research.