Thermal affect: A six-dimensional semantic space to assess outdoor thermal comfort
Description
Here, we proposed a six-dimensional semantic framework for outdoor thermal comfort assessments comprising four descriptive - ‘thermal sensation’, ‘humidity’, ‘wind’ and ‘solar radiation,’ plus two affective - ‘thermal pleasure’ and ‘thermal intensity’ dimensions. In Phase 1 an online questionnaire recruited 135 native English-speakers to place 76 climatic adjectives into this six-dimensional semantic space. Phase 2 launched a field study with another 22 subjects locating real-time outdoor thermal experiences in the same semantic space. They were then asked to select from a subset of the 76 climatic adjectives those that best described their right here- right-now thermal experience. Validation was then performed by comparing coordinates of the 31 most frequently chosen adjectives in Phase 2 with those assigned to them in Phase 1. Good correlations (R2 > 0.65) of adjectives’ coordinates between the two research phases indicate consistency regarding which adjectives best describe specific scenarios, regardless of seasons, locations, or current exposures. In this database, we uploaded the average adjectives' scores achieved in the online questionnaire and the Retrieval process of the 10 most likely climatic adjectives to describe the thermal feelings based on the right-here-right-now thermal experience.