PeopleSize Help

The PeopleSize dataset is not the result of a single enormous measurement survey. It has been produced from a large number of existing surveys, to meet the needs of designers, building on the basis put forward by Pheasant (ref 57). In particular we have tried to provide a dataset which is...

Likely to include all dimensions needed to size the design in hand
Of the desired nationalities
Of the appropriate age range for the product
Recent enough to apply to current populations
Free of large errors caused by small samples or lack of opportunity for validation against comparable datasets

Published data from individual surveys are necessarily characterised by smaller sample sizes, one population, and a limited number of dimensions. Many anthropometry datasets are now one or two decades old.

Recognising that if data are not available then designers are forced to make their own inexpert estimates, the procedures have been developed to create a large up-to-date and validated dataset using a formal estimation method. You should be aware that some data, especially fatty dimensions, have quite a large tolerance.

Although estimation is sometimes thought to be approximation, it often improves accuracy by revealing data errors (which are very common) and showing up inconsistencies. When validating data for the elderly, for example, we found so little consistency between multiple comparable datasets that we achieved a more credible dataset by adjusting data from younger adults for the change in length of the spine.

As always when using a database, you should not assume that there are no errors in it, even when the database has been thoroughly developed and checked, and even when it is also long established and widely used like PeopleSize. You are advised to perform you own validation, such as a fitting trial.