Relation of fiber resilience to the consumer selection of carpeting

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Nancy Jane Sears (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Pauline Keeney

Abstract: The major purpose of this study was to investigate compressional resilience as a factor contributing to the selection of carpeting. The factor of specific interest was the ability of consumers to recognize resilience of carpeting and to detect differences in resilience which might be due to fiber content. The data collection for this study required four different aspects of investigation. The four different parts were: 1. A survey of information available to the consumer at the time of carpet purchase. 2. Laboratory testing to measure differences in fiber resilience. 3. A subjective test to indicate differences in fiber resilience. 4. A questionnaire to determine factors that consumers consider important for carpet purchase. The survey of information available to the consumer at the time of carpet purchase was made by four home economists, assuming the roles of consumers interested in purchasing carpet for their living areas. Much of the sales emphasis centered around aesthetic aspects of carpeting such as color, texture, and beauty. Sales personnel stressed fiber properties and resilience as reasons for a carpet to wear well and suggested acrylic and nylon fibers more frequently than other carpet fibers. Twelve carpets were used for the objective and subjective evaluations of fiber resilience. These carpets were all of tufted construction and included high and low pile heights, cut pile and level loop pile types, and wool, acrylic, and nylon fiber types. Laboratory tests were made to determine pile height, pile density and compressional resilience of the carpets. An analysis of variance for a 3 x 2 x 2 factorial design was performed on the measurements of compressional resilience of the carpets. Significant differences in compressional resilience between fibers showed nylon carpeting to be most resilient. Wool carpeting and acrylic carpeting were second and third in resilience. Significant differences in compressional resilience between pile heights and between pile types were found. Loop pile carpets in each fiber group were more resilient than the cut pile carpets. Level loop pile showed little difference in resilience between high and low pile heights. Whereas, the cut pile carpets of low pile height showed considerably greater resilience than those of high pile height. One hundred women participated in the subjective evaluation of fiber resilience of the test carpets. Two replications of each of the 12 carpets were used for this evaluation of fiber resilience. The majority of these subjects chose as most resilient the wool carpets of low pile height and the acrylic carpets of high pile height in both cut pile and level loop carpets. Subjects consistently ranked nylon as the least resilient of the three fibers being tested. The 100 women, who made the subjective evaluation of fiber resilience of the test carpets, also answered a questionnaire concerning factors considered important for carpet purchase. When asked to indicate the first six factors considered most important to them in the purchase of a carpet, at least 50 per cent of these consumers selected each of the following factors: durability, does not show dirt or soil easily, quality, color, price, and fiber content. "Springiness" or resilience was selected by 25 per cent of these subjects. The results of this study would seem to indicate that 1. The selection and purchase of carpeting must be based largely upon the consumer's subjective evaluations of the carpetings. 2. Generally speaking, greater resilience can be achieved through the selection of level loop carpeting of low pile height than through the selection of the other combinations of pile type and pile height tested. 3. "Springiness" or resilience was mentioned less frequently than a number of other factors considered most important for carpet purchase.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 1969
Keywords
carpeting, consumer behavior, consumer preferences
Subjects
Carpets
Textile fibers
Consumers' preferences

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