This project is a significant contribution to the field of user experience study, aiming to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual human (VH) role-players as leadership training tools in virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) environments, in comparison to the traditional training method of real human (RH) role-players in a real-world (RW) setting.
To conduct this study, we developed an innovative and experimental training platform that enabled us to assess three distinct conditions: RH role-players in RW (RH-RW), VH role-players in VR (VH-VR), and VH role-players in MR (VH-MR). We carefully designed two practice-type opportunities, namely pre-session and post-session, to evaluate the performance and effectiveness of each condition.
In the user study, we involved 30 participants who assumed leadership roles and interacted with either RHs or VHs before and after receiving a dedicated leadership training session. Our primary focus was to investigate two key aspects: (1) the comparative effectiveness of VH role-players and RH role-players during both pre- and post-sessions, and (2) the impact of the human-type (RH, VH) in conjunction with the environment-type (RW, VR, MR) on the overall outcomes.
It's important to note that the media resources displayed here pertain specifically to the MR experience. For a comprehensive understanding of the study, including detailed findings and insights, we kindly refer you to the publication by Suárez, G., Jung, S., and Lindeman, R. W. (2021), titled "Evaluating virtual human role-players for the practice and development of leadership skills," published in Frontiers in Virtual Reality 2, 31. doi:10.3389/frvir.2021.658561. This publication provides additional in-depth information about our study and its outcomes.