Tracing affordances: mixed-methods review on techniques to study affordances in virtual reality environments

The development of virtual reality (VR) research and innovation has mainly revolved around graphic enhancement and novel ways of human-computer interaction. In recent years, many VR researchers have urgently started to investigate methods to assess elements of the spatial experience of VR, such as presence and affordances. In the recent two decades, while VR researchers began to learn to measure such elements within the VR environment, studies of these elements have already been common in architecture, although the methods might differ. Therefore, this study reviews different techniques to study affordances in architecture and VR research through a mixed-method review. First, we conducted a systematic review on the methods used to study affordances in VR environments. Then, we proceeded to undertake a traditional literature review on those methods which assess spatial affordances in architecture. This study identifies the merits of current techniques of measuring affordances in both physical and virtual spaces. Through this study, we would like to suggest three methods employed in architecture as an alternative with which to assess affordances when studying spatial experience in VR environments.