The study has the following four distinct parts:

• Conduct a literature search to determine possible causal factors that may contribute to reported symptoms and help differentiate between symptoms caused by air quality from those caused by other factors;
• Prepare a comfort questionnaire (using an existing questionnaire as an outline) and use it to poll passengers and crew on flights where air quality testing is being conducted;
• Develop a testing protocol to measure aircraft cabin contaminants and environmental parameters; and
• Conduct air quality monitoring on the ground and during flight on eight commercial flights.

A unique aspect of this study was the measurement of cabin contaminants and environmental parameters in parallel with the administration of comfort questionnaires to passengers and crewmembers. The objective of the project, because of limited funds, was not to collect large amounts of data, whereby significant correlations between contaminant levels and passenger responses could be deduced. But rather, the objective was to develop an air quality testing protocol and comfort questionnaire to determine if this type of research could be successful, and to make recommendations that could enhance the overall effectiveness of future studies.