Deconstructing the constructs in multi-domain investigations of perceived indoor-environmental quality

This paper reviews the application of constructs and scales in multi-domain studies of perceived indoor-environmental quality (IEQ) in office buildings. Constructs represent hypothetical variables used to capture participants’ experiences and evaluations in the course of experimental studies. The review documents the variety of the applied constructs and scales involving thermal, visual, acoustic, and indoor air quality domains in 39 past multi-domain occupant-centric studies. Thereby, a central point of query pertains to the question if the reviewed papers routinely include validation studies regarding the deployed constructs or provide corresponding references to such validation studies. The results of the review reveal certain inconsistencies in the use of construct labels and scales. Moreover, the results point to considerable shortcomings with regard to inclusion of validation tests or related references. As such, the paper highlights the need for a more systematic approach towards the specification and validation of constructs in investigations of subjective human responses to various dimensions of indoor-environmental exposure.