Virtual Assisted Self Interview Research

Mark W. BellIndiana University

Edward CastronovaIndiana University

Gert G. WagnerBerlin University of Technology, DIW Berlin, and Max Planck

Institute for Human Development, Berlin

Dusk Project Research Delayed

Virtual Assisted Self Interview ResearchFunded!

Thanks

Survey Methods Expand

Technology changes can cause this expansion

Virtual Worlds are a technological change

New Method

New Tool

Benefits of new tool

Past Research

Current Research

Future Research

New method not methodology

New method of data collection

Pen & PaperMailTelephoneComputers

Technology changes result in data collection changes

Computer-Assisted Self Interviewing

Audio-CASI

Video-CASI

Virtual Worlds

Virtual Assisted Self Interviewing (VASI): An Expansion of Survey Data Collection Methods to the Virtual Worlds by

Means of VDCI

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1188562

Virtual-Assisted Self Interview

Virtual Data Collection Interface

Surveys Dispensed By Kiosks 24/7

Low Social Presence and complete anonymity

Evaluating New Methods1) Degree of Interviewer Involvement2) Degree of Interaction with the respondent 3) Degree of Privacy 4) Channels of communication5) Technology use 6) Coverage 7) Non-response 8) Measurement error

Groves et al. (2004)Couper (2000)

Past ResearchGriffiths, M. D., Davies, M. N., & Chappell, D. (2003). Breaking the Stereotype: The Case of Online Gaming. CyberPsychology & Behavior , 6 (1), 81-91.

Seay, A. F., Jerome, W. J., Sang Lee, K., & Kraut, R. E. (2004). Project Massive: A study of online gaming communities. CHI '04 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems (pp. 1421 - 1424). Vienna, Austria : ACM.

Yee, N. (2006a). Motivations for Play in Online Games. CyberPsychology & Behavior , 9 (6), 772-775.

Yee, N. (2006b). The Demographics, Motivations and Derived Experiences of Users of Massively-Multiuser Online Graphical Environments. RESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments , 15, 309-329.

Yellowlees, P. M., & Cook, J. N. (2006). Education About Hallucinations Using an Internet Virtual Reality System: A Qualitative Survey. Academic Psychiatry (30), 534-539.

Williams, D. (2006c). On and Off the 'Net: Scales for Social Capital in an Online Era. Journal ofComputer-Mediated Communication , 11

Kemp, J., & Livingstone, D. (2006). Putting a Second Life “Metaverse” skin on learning management systems. Proceedings of the Second Life Education Workshop at the Second Life Community Convention (pp. 13-18). San Francisco: The University Of Paisley.

Beta TestOver 70 RespondentsNo Issues with VDCI

Ran for a week with no researcher involvement

" an innovative approach to surveys! “

" I took the Survey and I found it great ;) I can imagine how useful it can be for my academic work”

" Overall, the experience was good"

" I thought it an awesome bit of scripting"

" Overall my experience of taking the survey was that it is a very easy, straightforward process."

" First off, I thought it was a great tool. It was pretty intuitive and easy to use. I would love to have such a tool myself. "

" Just a remark: if u click in the top line in the HUD (title) you'll skip the present question. I didn't notice that, and I skiped just one of the questions (in fact the incoming amounts ;)“

"One of my group members remarked: The survey HUD needs a "back" button. The questions took too long to come into focus. On some of them I tried clicking on them again which only made it go on to the next question without an answer by mistake, but I had no way to go back. “

"The only suggestion I have is that on the last 'screen' with thank you, you also give instructions for detaching it (and maybe in the notecard too).“

"Lag causes questions to rez slowly (or can), a bit frustrating waiting to be able to read a question.

Current Research

Demographics & Quality of Life

Sampling

Random Sampling• Classified Ad in SL

Convenience Sampling•Email List Sampling

Compare Sampling methods

Random Sampling Convenience Sampling

Compare To Existing Data

SL Population US & German Populations

The Future Is Null-ish

Future Research

Surveys and Experiment in Virtual Worlds

Surveys and Experiment About Virtual Worlds

Low Social Presence Surveys

Target Population Surveys

Mark BellPhD Student @ Indiana University

bellmw@indiana.edu

http://blog.markwbell.com

SL: Typewriter Tackleberry

Twitter: Typewriter

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