Virtual reality (VR) technologies have great potential to improve design reviews. However, their effect on these activities is still inconclusive. One of the reasons is the lack of understanding regarding design reviews. This thesis addresses this gap by introducing transitions, an overarching concept of evaluation and/or planning activities, such as design reviews and reflections on actions. Through two proposed theoretical models, transitions are introduced from multiple facets on a micro- and meso-scale. In addition, an experimental framework is developed to consolidate the considerations when studying VR-supported transitions in an engineering design context. The proposed models and framework are used to design two experiments in which 10 and 14 teams conducted transition activities using a traditional user interface (mouse, keyboard, monitor) or VR (head-mounted displays). The results show that considering cognitive, affective, and social aspects together better predicts the team's actions and provides evidence for studying transitions as multifaceted activities. The teams that used VR worked together more often, which makes this technology useful when the goal is to achieve collective decision-making. VR also supported identifying issues related to the design problem and the interaction between design and users, suggesting its suitability for the early design phases. Hence, VR and traditional user interfaces are not substitutable but rather complementary technologies.
2023
PhD thesis
