Research Design Connection: Comparing Responses to Daylight and Electric Light
Borisuit and colleagues investigated people’s responses to daylight and electric light in an area very similar to a contemporary office environment. They found “significantly higher visual acceptance scores under DL [daylight] [it was liked more and felt to be more comfortable] than EL [electric light] conditions, despite the lack of a direct outside view. Subjective [perceived] glare was lower under DL than under EL condition. While subjective alertness and physical wellbeing decreased for both lighting conditions in the course of the afternoon, subjects felt sleepy earlier under EL than DL. Physical wellbeing [was felt to] become worse in the course of the afternoon only under EL.” The researchers report that their data suggest “a greater tolerance for glare under daylight.” The electric lighting was produced by “eight polychromatic white light luminaires, mounted on the ceiling (58 W, fluorescent tube, 4000 K). A. Borisuit, F. Linhart, J-L. Scartezzini, and M. Munch. …
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