AT-78-07-3 -- The Empirical Approach to Thermal Comfort

At the time of this writing The College of Engineering at Kansas State University had two contracts which were sponsored by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE). To ascertain their progress a team of engineers representing ASHRAE visited the university and during their inspection observed the testing on a study concerned with comfort research. They were briefed on the thermal conditions in the environmental chamber, the clothing worn by the subjects, the apparatus for recording the temperature of the subjects as well as the environment and the balloting procedures used for recording the thermal sensations and reactions of the subjects themselves.

Following this, several questions were raised but the ones of greatest concern and the ones that stimulated the writing of this paper pertained to the test subjects and specifically to the confidence that could b~ placed in their responses.

Is it correct that almost all of your subjects are college students? said one of the engineers. I assured him it was.

Then he continued, From what I know about most college students today, they are more concerned with football, their next date and beer blast than they are about comfort and because of this I wonder how much confidence you can place in their responses. How can you generalize to the population at large the findings you obtain with these people who from all outward appearances are disinterested in the subject under study and who view participation in one of your studies as an easy way to pick up a few dollars for their next fling?

To provide answers to these questions is the purpose of the following discussion -- a discussion which requires a basic understanding of the practices employed in human factors research.

Citation: ASHRAE Transactions, Volume 84, Part 1, Atlanta, GA



Product Code(s): D-AT-78-07-3