RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND USER SATISFACTION IN UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS: A QUANTITATIVE STUDY

Abstract

Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) is highly essential as it determines the comfort, wellbeing, productivity, and satisfaction of the occupants. University buildings cater to a wide range of activities that take place within education institutions, which makes it critical to maintain a healthy indoor environment that supports learning, teaching, and administrative functions. This study aims to establish a relation between the indoor environment and the satisfaction of the occupants with a focus on thermal, indoor air quality, visual, acoustic comfort, and ventilation quality. A quantitative research method will be used for this study where a survey instrument will be administered to a sample of 250 students, faculty members, and staff in Lahore, Pakistan. A Likert scale will be used to measure respondents’ perception of the indoor environment and their overall satisfaction. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s Alpha test, Pearson’s correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression will be performed to analyze the data. The study will make an original contribution by identifying the indoor environment aspects that have the highest influence on occupants’ satisfaction. The findings will offer new insights into the importance of indoor environment quality and its impact on building occupants. The research will also generate additional implications for architects, facility managers, and administrators while providing recommendations for improving the indoor environment of educational buildings.