Study description

Are you interested in virtual reality and have your own VR headset? Do you want to contribute to research in VR?

We are exploring the role VR can play in changing behaviours, attitudes and emotions, and need participants to take part in a short experiment (virtually, in the comfort of your own home at a time of your choosing) to play a crucial role in building our knowledge around the impact of VR.

What are we doing?
Virtual Reality (VR) is increasing as a tool for communication – from the New York Times and VICE, to Emmy-award winning short film Invasion, to Facebook enabling anyone with a camera to share 360° content. The impact on behaviour is not well understood, especially outside laboratory conditions. We are using behavioural theory to explore how a VR film can impact our behaviour, and we are using a short experiment followed by some follow-up interviews to explore what people think and how people feel about virtual reality and their own behaviour. After the experiment and interviews are finished, we will share the findings to the academic community through a journal paper, and with practitioners and VR users through a short report on this website, with the hope of improving understanding around how effective VR is as a communication tool.

What will the experiment involve?
It will involve a survey, and it may involve watching a short film in VR (using your own VR headset) – the total time for the experiment will be between 15-45 minutes. There will be another short follow up survey approximately two weeks after the initial survey. After that, there may be opportunity to be involved in the next stage of the research, which involves short interviews with participants.

If you are interested in participating, you can find out more information and complete the experiment here!

If you want to know more, or have questions about this research, please contact Catherine (ee14cg@leeds.ac.uk).

Participant requirements

You need to:

Be over 18 years old

Have access to a VR headset

Be based in the UK

Duration

Long (45+ mins)

Compensation

Participants are uncompensated

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