Understanding burglary risk: A study using VR

The overall aim of this study is to examine whether Virtual Reality (VR) can act as an effective method of helping the general public understand burglar behaviour. VR has been used in a variety of disciplines (e.g. medicine, engineering and education) to improve learning and to train behaviours. As of yet, no study has used this training tool to help individuals reduce their risk of burglary. Our study will examine the effectiveness of this training, with the aim of helping to reduce future burglaries in local communities.

Interested participants may be anyone wanting to better protect their homes from burglary, or anyone interested in trying out the latest Virtual Reality technology! Participants should consider themselves at least partly responsible for the security of their property.

Your participation in this study should last up to 60 minutes, for which you will be given £10.

What will participants be doing?

Under the guidance of the experimenter, participants will be asked to navigate a virtual neighbourhood of houses, completing a variety of burglary-related tasks. They will also be asked to complete questionnaires relating to certain burglary beliefs and may be given some anti-burglary information to learn.

Where will participants be going?

King Henry Building
King Henry I Street, Portsmouth, Hants
PO1 2DY

Apply

Interested applicants should email the primary experimenter Matthew Talbot (e: Matthew.Talbot@port.ac.uk) to arrange a slot.

Closing date

24 August 2021

Ethics code

SHFEC 2020-091