There are currently 70.8 million forcibly displaced people, globally. Bangladesh hosts the largest refugee camp in the world. Much effort has gone into the research, design and delivery of mass-produced shelters. Yet most refugees live in self-built shelters using simple shelter materials. This paper aims to demonstrate the benefits of using a transdisciplinary approach for holistic data collection in such shelters. A total of 1594 households were surveyed in refugee camps in Bangladesh using diverse methods—e.g. surveys, semi-structured interviews, physical measurements. It was only because of the use of various methods that the reasons behind identified issues were discovered or quantified. For example, household surveys uncovered the issue of poor ventilation, but only the semi-structured interviews exposed the reasons behind it, while physical measurements assessed the implications of this—annual particulate exposure 13 times the recommended limit. Furthermore, several methods pointed to issues with materials, but only the focus groups discussions exposed the need for gender-sensitive technical training tailored for women on the correct use of the materials. This study demonstrates that a diverse team (humanitarian staff, building physicists, and anthropologists) using several approaches to data-gathering and working in a transdisciplinary manner has much to offer the sector, and by including quantitative physical measurements allows costed improvement plans to be developed, targets to be set and general, rather than case specific, knowledge to be generated. The findings of this study have resulted in new shelter interventions by the aid sector that were rolled out in over 70,000 shelters.

目前，全球有7080万被迫流离失所的人。孟加拉国拥有世界上最大的难民营。大量生产的避难所的研究，设计和交付投入了大量精力。然而，大多数难民使用简单的收容所材料生活在自建的收容所中。本文旨在证明在此类避难所中采用跨学科方法进行整体数据收集的好处。在孟加拉国的难民营中，使用各种方法（例如调查，半结构化访谈，体格测量）对总共1594户家庭进行了调查。只是由于使用了各种方法，才发现或量化了已确定问题背后的原因。例如，家庭调查发现了通风不良的问题，但只有半结构化的访谈才揭示了背后的原因，而物理测量评估了这种影响-年度颗粒暴露量为建议限值的13倍。此外，有几种方法指出了材料的问题，但是只有焦点小组的讨论才暴露出需要针对妇女的性别敏感技术培训，以正确使用材料。这项研究表明，使用多种方法进行数据收集和以跨学科方式工作的多元化团队（人道主义人员，建筑物理学家和人类学家）可以为该领域提供很多帮助，并且通过包括定量的物理测量，可以制定成本较高的改进计划，要设置的目标以及要生成的一般知识，而不是特定案例的知识。