Quality criteria for multi-domain studies in the indoor environment: Critical review towards research guidelines and recommendations
Review article, 2022

The perception, physiology, behavior, and performance of building occupants are influenced by multi-domain exposures: the simultaneous presence of multiple environmental stimuli, i.e., visual, thermal, acoustic, and air quality. Despite being extensive, the literature on multi-domain exposures presents heterogeneous methodological approaches and inconsistent study reporting, which hinder direct comparison between studies and meta-analyses. Therefore, in addition to carrying out more multi-domain studies, such investigations need to be designed, conducted, and documented in a systematic and transparent way. With the goal to facilitate and support future multi-domain studies and their meta-analyses, this work provides (1) a range of criteria for multi-domain study design and reporting (i.e., defined as quality criteria), and (2) a critical review of the multi-domain literature based on the described criteria, which can serve as guidelines and recommendations for future studies on the topic. The identified quality criteria encompass study set-up, study deployment and analysis, and study outcome, stressing the importance of adopting a consistent terminology and result reporting style. The developed critical review highlights several shortcomings in the design, deployment, and documentation of multi-domain studies, emphasizing the need for quality improvements of future multi-domain research. The ultimate goal of this work is to consolidate our knowledge on multi-domain exposures for its integration into regulatory resources and guidelines, which are currently dominated by single-domain knowledge.

Research quality assurance

Human comfort

Combined effects

IEQ

Transparent reporting

Cross-modal effects

Author

Giorgia Chinazzo

Northwestern University

Rune Korsholm Andersen

Technical University of Denmark (DTU)

Elie Azar

Carleton University

Khalifa University

Verena Barthelmes

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)

Cristina Becchio

Polytechnic University of Turin

Lorenzo Belussi

Consiglo Nazionale Delle Richerche

Christiane Berger

Aalborg University

Salvatore Carlucci

Cyprus Institute

Stefano Paolo Corgnati

Polytechnic University of Turin

Sarah Crosby

University of British Columbia (UBC)

Ludovico Danza

Consiglo Nazionale Delle Richerche

Luiza de Castro

Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

Matteo Favero

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

Stephanie Gauthier

University of Southampton

Runa T. Hellwig

Aalborg University

Quan Jin

Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Building Technology

Joyce Kim

University of Waterloo

Mandana Sarey Khanie

Technical University of Denmark (DTU)

Dolaana Khovalyg

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)

Carola Lingua

Polytechnic University of Turin

Alessandra Luna-Navarro

Delft University of Technology

Ardeshir Mahdavi

Vienna University of Technology

Clayton Miller

National University of Singapore (NUS)

Isabel Mino-Rodriguez

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Ilaria Pigliautile

University of Perugia

Anna Laura Pisello

University of Perugia

Princeton University

Ricardo Forgiarini Rupp

Technical University of Denmark (DTU)

Abdul Manan Sadick

Deakin University

Francesco Salamone

Consiglo Nazionale Delle Richerche

Marcel Schweiker

RWTH Aachen University

Marc Syndicus

RWTH Aachen University

Giorgia Spigliantini

Polytechnic University of Turin

Rina Consulting S.p.A.

Natalia Giraldo Vasquez

Technical University of Denmark (DTU)

Donna Vakalis

University of British Columbia (UBC)

Marika Vellei

La Rochelle University

Shen Wei

University College London (UCL)

Building and Environment

0360-1323 (ISSN)

Vol. 226 109719

Subject Categories

Production Engineering, Human Work Science and Ergonomics

Software Engineering

Human Computer Interaction

DOI

10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109719

More information

Latest update

7/17/2024