Evaluating assumptions of scales for subjective assessment of thermal environments – Do laypersons perceive them the way, we researchers believe?

Marcel Schweiker and Maíra André and Farah Al-Atrash and HananAl-Khatri and Rea Risky Alprianti and Hayder Alsaad and Rucha Amin and Eleni Ampatzi and Alpha Yacob Arsano and Elie Azar and Bahareh Bannazadeh and Amina Batagarawa and Susanne Becker and Carolina Buonocore and Bin Cao and Joon-HoChoi and Chungyoon Chun and Hein Daanen and Siti Aisyah Damiati and Lyrian Daniel and Renata De Vecchi and Shivraj Dhaka and Samuel Domínguez-Amarillo and Edyta Dudkiewicz and Lakshmi Prabha Edappilly and Jesica Fernández-Agüera and Mireille Folkerts and Arjan Frijns and Gabriel Gaona and Vishal Garg and Stephanie Gauthier and Shahla Ghaffari Jabbari and Harimi Djamila and Runa T.Hellwig and Gesche M Huebner and Quan Jin and Mina Jowkar and Jungsoo Kim and Nelson King and Boris Kingma and M. Donny Koerniawan and Jakub Kolarik and Shailendra Kumar and Alison Kwok and Roberto Lamberts and Marta Laska and M.C. Jeffrey Lee and Yoonhee Lee and Vanessa Lindermayr and Mohammadbagher Mahaki and Udochukwu Marcel-Okafor and Laura Marín-Restrepo and Anna Marquardsen and Francesco Martellotta and Jyotirmay Mathur and Isabel Mino-Rodriguez and Azadeh Montazami and Di Mou and Bassam Moujalled and Mia Nakajima and Edward Ng and Marcellinus Okafor and Mark Olweny and Wanlu Ouyang and Ana Lígia Papst de Abreu and Alexis Pérez-Fargallo and Indrika Rajapaksha and Greici Ramos and Saif Rashid and Christoph F.Reinhart and Ma. Isabel Rivera and Mazyar Salmanzadeh and Karin Schakib-Ekbatan and Stefano Schiavon and Salman Shooshtarian and Masanori Shukuya and Veronica Soebarto and Suhendri Suhendri and Mohammad Tahsildoost and FedericoTartarini and Despoina Teli and Priyam Tewari and Samar Thapa and Maureen Trebilcock and Jörg Trojan and Ruqayyatu B.Tukur and Conrad Voelker and Yeung Yam and Liu Yang and Gabriela Zapata-Lancaster and Yongchao Zhai and Yingxin Zhu and ZahraSadat Zomorodian (2020) Evaluating assumptions of scales for subjective assessment of thermal environments – Do laypersons perceive them the way, we researchers believe? Energy & Buildings, 211. ISSN 0378-7788

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Abstract

People’s subjective response to any thermal environment is commonly investigated by using rating scales describing the degree of thermal sensation, comfort, and acceptability. Subsequent analyses of results col- lected in this way rely on the assumption that specific distances between verbal anchors placed on the scale exist and that relationships between verbal anchors from different dimensions that are assessed (e.g. thermal sensation and comfort) do not change. Another inherent assumption is that such scales are inde- pendent of the context in which they are used (climate zone, season, etc.). Despite their use worldwide, there is indication that contextual differences influence the way the scales are perceived and therefore question the reliability of the scales’ interpretation. To address this issue, a large international collabo- rative questionnaire study was conducted in 26 countries, using 21 different languages, which led to a dataset of 8225 questionnaires. Results, analysed by means of robust statistical techniques, revealed that only a subset of the responses are in accordance with the mentioned assumptions. Significant differences appeared between groups of participants in their perception of the scales, both in relation to distances of the anchors and relationships between scales. It was also found that respondents’ interpretations of scales changed with contextual factors, such as climate, season, and language. These findings highlight the need to carefully consider context-dependent factors in interpreting and reporting results from ther- mal comfort studies or post-occupancy evaluations, as well as to revisit the use of rating scales and the analysis methods used in thermal comfort studies to improve their reliability.

Item Type: Article
Keyword: hermal comfort , Thermal sensation , Thermal acceptance , Field study , Scales Post-Occupancy-Evaluation , Climatic zone Season , Language , Adaptation , Diversity
Subjects: T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
Department: FACULTY > Faculty of Engineering
Depositing User: NORAINI LABUK -
Date Deposited: 16 Apr 2020 14:07
Last Modified: 20 Apr 2020 00:36
URI: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/25306

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