Ten questions concerning statistical data analysis in human-centric buildings research: A focus on thermal comfort investigations

Building and Environment, vol. 264, pp. 111903

Abstract

Given the large amount of time we spend indoors, designing and operating buildings that are safe, comfortable, and conducive to productivity and well-being is essential. To achieve this goal, in the past decades, research has been conducted to investigate the influence of the indoor environment on occupants. Thermal comfort has been the subject of most investigations in this field. However, despite being a consolidated research topic since the 1920s, statistical practices for analysing thermal comfort data often rely on simplified premises, which may be due to several possible factors (e.g., limited computational capabilities and lack of training). Consequently, important aspects of data analysis are often absent or overlooked. Recent statistics and statistical software advances have provided more options for effectively modelling complex issues. However, properly using these tools requires a solid understanding of statistical analysis, increasing the risk of misuse in practice. This paper presents ten questions highlighting the most critical issues regarding statistical analysis for thermal comfort research and practice. The first four questions provide general perspectives concerning statistical data analysis, while the remaining ones address specific problems related to thermal comfort research, but that can extend to all human-centric research in the built environment. Additionally, the last five questions demonstrate the practical significance of analysis pitfalls (i.e., sampling variability, selection bias, variable selection, clustered/nested observations, and measurement error) through examples with synthetic data. This study provides insights into the current statistical ‘habits’ in thermal comfort research and, more importantly, help researchers better define and conduct their statistical analyses.

Authors 7

1. Matteo Favero corresponding

   École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

   Affiliation as printed

   ETHOS Lab, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland

2. Salvatore Carlucci

   University of Insubria

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy

3. Giorgia Chinazzo

   Northwestern University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA

4. Jan Kloppenborg Møller

   Technical University of Denmark

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark, DTU, Lyngby, Denmark

5. Marcel Schweiker Aachen Healthy Living Spaces Lab Institute for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine Medical Faculty

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Healthy Living Spaces lab, Institute for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany

6. Marika Vellei

   Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · Université de Bordeaux · Arts et Métiers · Institut de Mécanique et d'Ingénierie de Bordeaux · HESAM Université · Institut Polytechnique de Bordeaux

   Affiliation as printed

   Arts et Metiers Institute of Technology, CNRS, Bordeaux INP, Hesam Universite, I2M, UMR 5295, F-33400, Talence, France

   Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, Bordeaux INP, I2M, UMR 5295, F-33400, Talence, France

7. Andrew J. Sonta

   École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

   Affiliation as printed

   ETHOS Lab, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland