This book is the first to comprehensively cover research methods for building occupant behavior. As this is of growing importance for building design and for building performance optimization, the book aims to provide a sound scientific basis for experimental studies in this field. It introduces the reader to fundamental questions about the topic and unfolds the different fields related to occupant actions and comfort. This is followed by more general questions about developing an appropriate research method and experimental design. A comprehensive overview of sensors for monitoring environmental and also behavioral and action-related quantities helps to set up an experiment. In this context, different experimental environments and data collection methods (in-situ, laboratories, surveys) are introduced and discussed in terms of their suitability for the respective research question. Furthermore, data management and reporting is addressed. The book concludes with fundamental challengesin conducting occupant studies, with chapters on ground truth, ethics and privacy.
First of its kind to explore the multi-faceted topic of occupant behavior research using perspectives from architectural design, building physics, psychology, and social science
Provides a fundamental basis on topics such as research methods and approaches and sensors, data acquisition, and data management, while applying them directly to the occupant research
Full of illustrative examples, lessons learned, case studies, and recommended best practice, from the authors’ extensive personal experience and from the literature
Andreas Wagner
Occupant Comfort Buildings Energy Efficiency Energy Comfort Research Methods Occupant Studies