Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

(a) The investigation of social and human factors, which would enable the prediction of changes in domestic gas consumption; (b) the assessment of the significance of heating controls for energy consumption (and change of energy consumption) and satisfaction with heating systems; (c) field validation of Fanger's biophysical theory of thermal comfort in domestic environments; (d) evaluation of the Fishbein model as an explanatory device for the relationship between attitudes and intentions to energy conservation.

Main Topics:

Variables Heating and ventilation practices; expectations and intentions with regard to current gas consumption, heating practices, economy measures and improvements in insulation level, and changes made during survey ; beliefs, attitudes and knowledge with regard to household energy related matters ; thermal comfort and indoor climate conditions ; household structure and socio-demographic details ; physical details of the house ; quarterly gas meter readings Measurement Scales ASHRAE Thermal Sensation Scale. Some scales of attitudes were taken from Seligman, D. et al, 'Predicting summer energy consumption from home owners attitudes', <i>Journal of Applied Social Psychology</i>, 9, 1979, pp. 70-90. Some questions on structure and fabric of the houses were derived from Open University and Building Research Establishment, <i>Check your energy : personal home survey</i>, 1983.

Households were selected by means of a stratified multi-stage cluster procedure. For further details see <i>Sampling procedure and data collection</i> available from the ESRC Data Archive.

Face-to-face interview

Postal survey

Compilation or synthesis of existing material

Survey of physical and structural house characteristics ; temperature measurements