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Designing and Measuring Immersion in User Studies: A Cross-Domain Framework for Simulating Real-World Situations

Institute
Lehrstuhl für Ergonomie (TUM-ED)
Type
Master's Thesis /
Content
theoretical / constructive /  
Description

Background

Many user studies investigate situations that cannot be fully reproduced in the lab or online. In such studies, participants are often asked to imagine a situation, but this can reduce ecological validity because the real-world experience involves risk, urgency, bodily sensation, social pressure, or emotional involvement. Different research domains use different methods to improve immersion: written scenarios, images, videos, sound, VR, driving simulators, cognitive-load tasks, time pressure, or physical stimuli.

 

Objective

The goal of this thesis is to develop a cross-domain framework for immersion-induction methods in user studies. The thesis will analyze how different domains simulate real-world situations and propose a structured way to select, combine, and evaluate immersion stimuli.

 

Possible Research Questions

  • Which methods are used across research domains to simulate real-world situations in user studies?
  • Which types of target states are commonly simulated, for example emotional, cognitive, physiological, social, or risk-related states?
  • How can stimulus modalities be categorized, for example text, visual, audio, audiovisual, VR, cognitive load, or physical stimulus?
  • Which quantitative measures are suitable for assessing immersion and simulation effectiveness?
  • How can researchers select an appropriate simulation method for a given user-study context?

 

Methodological Approach

The thesis may include:

  • literature review on ecological validity, immersion, presence, simulation fidelity, and scenario validity;
  • extraction of immersion methods from selected application domains;
  • mapping of possible measurements;
  • development of a decision framework for choosing simulation methods.
Requirements
  • •interest in human–computer interaction, experimental methods, and research design;
  • ability to conduct structured literature review;
  • basic understanding of quantitative measurement;
  • optional: experience with survey design, VR/video/audio stimuli, or statistical analysis.
Possible start
sofort
Contact
Yuchen Liu, M.Sc.
Room: MW3326
Phone: 0173 5415535
yuchen.liutum.de
Announcement