- Author
-
Stahl, F. I.
- Title
- Human Response to Fire: Three Designs for Research. Interim Report. November 1977-January 1978.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
-
NBSIR 78-1508
August 1978
31 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Keywords
-
fire safety
|
response time
|
occupants
- Abstract
- As a group, empirical investigators of the responses of building occupants to emergencies employ idiosyncratic, non-replicable techniques for research design, data acquisition, and data analysis. As a result, it has been difficult to explain the influence of many, often uncontrolled, variables. This shortcoming has frequently rendered research findings indeterminate and non-cumulative. This paper explores three exemplary research design strategies, each aimed at mitigating these problems by introducing a greater degree of rigor into the study of human responses to fires. Both exploratory and experimental designs are considered in various problem contexts.