Demographic data, habits of use and personal impression of the first generation of users of virtual reality viewers in Spain

Abstract

Taking into account that the first virtual reality viewers started to be marketed in Spain at the end of 2016 (Gadelha, 2018; Parong and Mayer, 2018; Rizzo and Koenig, 2017) [1], [2], [3], a questionnaire was designed in order to show the social and demographic profile of this first generation of users of virtual reality experiences, itemising their ages, genders, educational level, professional field and present work status. Furthermore, the participants’ habits of use, interests, attitudes, assessments about the future potential of virtual reality in a range of areas and their preferences in this area are shown through the other items of the questionnaire.A wide sample of 117 participants, who were early adopters of virtual reality viewers, was obtained posting a new thread in the virtual reality forum of the Internet website ‘Elotrolado.net’. The data were collected by means of an online questionnaire hosted at the private servers of ‘Encuestafacil.com’.The sample did not undergo any pre-treatment and the obtained data were not altered.

Early virtual reality adopters in Spain: sociodemographic profile and interest in the use of virtual reality as a learning tool

“…Concerning the educational level, apart from the differences between genders being significant, in cases with a higher educational level, there is higher relationship with formal education and the viewer is used less frequently. Taking into account that the main current use of virtual reality viewers is related to leisure (Dombrowski and Dombrowski, 2017; Sánchez-Cabrero et al., 2018a,b), this result is justified considering the previous conclusion, because an approach to this technology in a professional way implies a specific and unusual use of it.Regarding teachers and students (who are usually women with a high-level education), it can be asserted that they occasionally try advanced viewers, have mostly mobile viewers and use their viewers less often. Within these groups, as it is shown in this study, portability and easy access to this technology are more important than an advanced exploitation of its possibilities, which can be done through personal computer viewers.…”

“…It actually responds to a human desire that goes beyond computer environments and artificially created graphics ( Hockley, 1997 ; Dombrowski and Dombrowski, 2017 ). It implies the fact of living an experience beyond the physical reality itself and being capable of making everything that can be imagined to come true: historical events, places of fantasy, imagined events, etc ( Costa-Román, 2016 ; Sánchez-Cabrero et al., 2018a , b ). Therefore, human beings expand the boundaries of their creations, experiences and learnings to everything that can be represented into a virtual environment.…”

“…This is the context that frames this research. It is based on a first approach by the authors to the practical use of virtual reality in primary classrooms in Spain ( Costa-Roman, 2016 ) and the exploration of the existing possibilities in terms of applications and software for the different current commercial viewers ( Sanchez-Cabrero et al., 2018a , b ). A great interest of learners towards the use of this technology was clearly observed, presenting a great intrinsic motivation in its use.…”

Lessons learned from supplementing archaeological museum exhibitions with virtual reality

“…The users that participated in the study include families with children, usual museum visitors and tourists. According to sociodemographics studies about early VR adopters [44], we expected users to have a variety of skills on interactive applications such as games and VR, ranging from kids that are used to play games frequently, and occasionally VR, to those that have neither gaming nor VR experience.…”

Posibilidades psicoterapéuticas de la realidad virtual desde el punto de vista de sus primeros usuarios en España

“…El uso de la RV se ha extendido de forma exponencial al ritmo de los avances tecnológicos que la han ido haciendo posible. Investigaciones recientes como la de Sánchez-Cabrero et al (2018) indican que sus primeros usuarios son frecuentemente varones, con un perfil de edad que supera los 35 años. Los motivos de este primer perfil demográfico son claros.…”