Telling Us What You Experience: Effects of Questionnaire Interface Design on Subjective Measurements in Virtual...

Area of Science:

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Virtual Reality Research
• Psychological Measurement

Background:

• Virtual reality (VR) offers controlled experimental environments but poses challenges for subjective data collection.
• Traditional post-experiment surveys can introduce recall bias and context-shift effects.
• In-VR questionnaires (INVRQs) aim to mitigate these issues but face concerns about interface usability and potential bias on experiential measures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of different 2D INVRQ interface designs on usability, task load, and experiential measures within VR.
• To provide methodological guidance for selecting or implementing INVRQ tools in VR research.

Main Methods:

• A within-subject study with 43 participants evaluating three 2D INVRQ interfaces: body-anchored watch, world-anchored station, and world-anchored board.
• Assessment of usability, task load, presence, and flow, complemented by qualitative interview feedback.
• Statistical analysis including equivalence tests to compare experiential measures across interfaces.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in usability and task load were observed across the three INVRQ interfaces, indicating distinct design trade-offs.
• Qualitative feedback revealed ergonomic considerations influencing user experience with different interfaces.
• No practically relevant differences in presence and flow ratings were found across the interfaces, suggesting experiential measures are robust to interface variations once basic usability is met.

Conclusions:

• Interface design significantly impacts usability and task load in INVRQs, necessitating careful selection based on ergonomic factors.
• Once basic usability is achieved, the choice of INVRQ interface is unlikely to substantially bias key experiential measures like presence and flow in VR.
• This research offers valuable guidance for optimizing the quality, comparability, and reproducibility of VR studies through effective INVRQ implementation.