appRaiseVR – An Evaluation Framework for Immersive Experiences

Abstract

Abstract Objective. VR is evolving into everyday technology. For all diverse application areas, it is essential to understand the user’s condition to ensure a safe, pleasant, and meaningful VR experience. However, VR experience evaluation is still in its infancy. The present paper takes up this research desideratum by conflating diverse expertise and learnings about experience evaluation in general and VR experiences in particular into a systematic evaluation framework (appRaiseVR). Method. To capture diverse expertise, we conducted two focus groups (bottom-up approach) with experts working in different fields of experience evaluation (e. g., Movie Experience, Theatre Experiences). First, we clustered the results of both focus groups. Then, we conflated those results and the learnings about experience evaluation stemming from the field of user experience into the final framework (top-down approach). Results. The framework includes five steps providing high-level guidance through the VR evaluation process. The first three steps support the definition of the experience and evaluation conditions (setting, level, plausibility). The last two steps guide the selection to find an appropriate time course and tools of measure. Conclusion. appRaiseVR offers high-level guidance for evaluators with different expertise and contexts. Finally, establishing similar evaluation procedures might contribute to safe, pleasant, and meaningful VR experiences.