Creating common virtual ground: Protocols to democratize open VR research
Abstract
By immersing participants in consistent virtual environments, VR enhances study realism, reduces confounding variables, and improves procedural control, offering a promising solution for scientists interested in studying behavior “in the wild.” The availability and documentation of data enabled by VR also help address replicability challenges. Despite vast potential, VR research is hindered by fragmentation, proprietary tools, and a lack of standardized practices, which limit its overall impact. This collaborative study presents an interactive checklist to support VR research from across disciplines to meet three essential protocols—interoperability, procedural standardization, and data sharing—that address these challenges by promoting open science and providing a common, easy-to-evaluate format for researchers to present projects to ethics boards, reviewers, and beyond. Together, these protocols can help VR research overcome replication barriers, democratize access to advanced tools, and establish VR as a robust method for rigorous, replicable scientific inquiry.
Article Details
Journal Info
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences
Authors (41)
Anand P. A. van Zelderen
SKEMA Business School—University of Côte d’Azur
Theodore C. Masters-Waage
Health Sciences Research Institute, University of California
Salvatore J. Affinito
Department of Management and Organizations, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University
Anely Bekbergenova
TUM School of Management, Technical University of Munich
Kirsten Cowan
Marketing Group, University of Edinburgh Business School
Tilo Hartmann
Department of Communication Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Mary M. Hausfeld
Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick
Albert Jolink
SKEMA Business School—University of Côte d’Azur
Jakob J. Korbel
Department of Economics and Management, Technische Universität Berlin
Theo Lynn
TrustLAB, DCU Institute for Business and Society, Dublin City University
Laetitia Renier
Department of Organizational Behavior, University of Lausanne
Dhruv P. Singh
Department of People and Organisations, NEOMA Business School
Sinuo Wu
Department of Business, Marketing and Law, University of South-Eastern Norway
Domna Banakou
Interactive Media, Arts and Humanities Division, New York University
Allison Bayro
School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, Arizona State University
Tibor Bosse
Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University
Eva Derous
Vocational and Personnel Psychology Lab, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science, Ghent University
Dejan Draschkow
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford
Kristen A. Ferguson
Department of Marketing, Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame
Thomas Fritz
Department of Informatics, University of Zurich
Diego Gomez-Zara
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Notre Dame
Christian Hauser
Swiss Institute for Entrepreneurship, University of the Applied Sciences of the Grisons
Vivianna Fang He
UCL School of Management, University College London
Lauren C. Howe
Department of Business Administration, University of Zurich
Devesh Jain
Global Collaboration Village, World Economic Forum
Zoe Kinias
Ivey Business School, Western University
Yanick X. Lukic
Institute of Computer Science, School of Engineering, Zurich University of Applied Sciences
Jochen I. Menges
Department of Business Administration, University of Zurich
Alireza Mortezapour
Department of Computer Science, University of Salerno
Abhishek Nagaraj
Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley and National Bureau of Economic Research
Chan Hyung Park
Nanyang Technological University, Division of Strategy, International Business, and Entrepreneurship Nanyang Business School
Susan Persky
Social and Behavioral Research Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute
Moritz Remund
Department of Business Administration, University of Zurich
Diana R. Sanchez
Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University
Maaike Schellaert
Vocational and Personnel Psychology Lab, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science, Ghent University
Stephan Streuber
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Coburg University of Applied Sciences and Arts
Eleonora Viganò
Swiss Institute for Entrepreneurship, University of the Applied Sciences of the Grisons
Michael Villano
Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame
Wouter Vleugels
HEC Liège—Management School of the University of Liège
Markus Zank
Lucerne School of Computer Science and Information Technology, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts
Timothy D. Hubbard
Department of Management and Organization, Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame