Are we adequately accounting for human factors in analyses of thermal comfort studies?

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We discuss thermal comfort research data analysis, focusing on the nature of human responses, response scales, and human-built environment interactions. The goal is to highlight methods that provide an appreciation of human responses and inter-individual variability. We posit that there should be reduced focus on finding correlations and looking for “one size fits all” answers. Our position is illustrated by sample data from the ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II. Through this work, we want to promote dialogue on how data analysis can retain a strong mathematical basis while remaining true to the human responses regarding thermal comfort.

Original languageEnglish
Article number116335
JournalEnergy and Buildings
Volume347
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Nov 2025

Keywords

  • Occupant centric
  • Ordinal data
  • Survey response
  • Thermal comfort
  • Thermal sensation votes

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