General information

Title of dataset
Real-time water use data collected via automatic timers (n=336) installed in individual showers on the Cranfield campus

Date and location of data collection
September 2022 Ð Jan 2023

Keywords
Water use behaviour, showers, timer, messaging, student halls

Name/institution/contact information for:
Cranfield University

Person collecting data, role and theme
Harry Nicklin Ð PhD Student

Data manager or custodian, supervisor or Principal InvestigatorÊ
Paul Jeffrey, Professor of Water Management, Cranfield University

Funding source 
UKRI / EPSRC

Methodological information: 

Description of methods for data collection or generation and data processing 
Shower timer devices were installed at eye-level in the inner wall of shower cabins in 449 single occupancy rooms on a university campus during the end of year change over period while rooms were unoccupied in September 2021 and September 2022. Information leaflets describing the devices and explaining the purpose of the research were pinned to noticeboards in each room to notify students of the data collection exercise.  Seven groups of participants were involved in the study; (i) A quasi-control group with no shower timer, (ii) a group exposed to the timer only, (iii) a group exposed to the timer and a time goal message, (iv) a group exposed to the timer and a time goal and a water footprint message, (v) a group exposed to the timer and a time goal and an energy footprint message, (vi) a group exposed to the timer and a time goal and a water saving tip, and (vii) a group exposed to the timer and a time goal and a group identity message. Data on shower durations for all participants was downloaded from a data server at the end of every month in a comma separated values (.csv) format file. The data was anonymised and contained no personal information, with the shower data connected to unique sensor IDs rather than to student names or room numbers. To facilitate the experiments, unique sensor IDs were matched with the corresponding room number in a separate encrypted password-protected file and stored on a secure cloud server to maintain data security and participant anonymity. The fieldwork was reviewed and approved by Cranfield University Research Ethics Review (Ref: CURES/13063/2021).

Upon receipt of the data, content was checked for errors (e.g. null readings, duplicates) and outliers, and the data was filtered to eliminate suspected non-shower events using filters in Microsoft Excel. Using the thresholds itemised below, 336 devices recorded enough data to be included in the analysis, accounting for 21,241 shower use events between September 26th 2022 Ð January 23rd, 2023. Data was first explored and visualised in Microsoft Excel, with follow-up statistical analysis conducted using the open-source software platform R.

Experimental conditions
Data collection occurred in student accommodation units on the Cranfield University campus.

QA procedures 
Due to the small size of the bathrooms and concerns that the bathroom sink, toilet, or use of the shower for non-shower events (e.g. cleaning the floor and walls) could trigger unreasonably short shower readings, all events under 90 seconds duration were filtered out prior to analysis. Excessively long showers, for example showers over 40 minutes long could represent outliers that distort the analysis of mean shower times, so they were also removed prior to statistical analysis based on a visual inspection of the time series data for each device. To ensure that only devices that were used continuously throughout the treatment period were analysed, representing a full-time occupant of the room, only devices with data of at least 20 shower events over the four-month study period were included..

Sharing and access information: 
Licenses and restrictions if appropriate
None

File name structure and file format
Structure: Provide the template you are using for your filenames
Only one Excel file provided containing tabulated data

Attributes: Describe the attributes used to name the files
N/A

Codes: Provide a complete list of any codes/abbreviations used
N/A

Provide a list of all file formats present in this dataset. 
.xls

Data-specific information
Variable list, including full names and definitions (spell out abbreviated words) of column headings forÊtabular data

DEVICEID Ð Unique identification code for the shower timer unit

DATE Ð The date on which the shower use event was recorded

TIME Ð The time (as per 24h clock) that the shower event started

GROUP Ð The trial group, where;
C = No shower timer
0 = Shower timer only
1 = Shower timer with time goal only
2 = Shower timer with time goal and water footprint message
3 = Shower timer with time goal and energy footprint message
4 = Shower timer with time goal and water saving tip
5 = Shower timer with time goal and group identity message

MINUTES Ð Duration of shower event in minutes and seconds (NB - the timer did not reset to zero if the water was turned off as long as there was still motion within the shower cubicle)

Units of measurement
Detailed above

Definitions for codes or symbols used to record missing data
N/A

Specialized formats or other abbreviations used
N/A

Column headings for tabular data
As above

Version / Change Log

Nature of change made
Date of change
Reason for change
Name of person modifying the file
Initial version of file
29/7/25

Paul Jeffrey
Revised version
08/07/26

Paul Jeffrey












2
Wednesday, 29th July 2025

README file

2