Barriers to User Acceptance of Virtual Reality in the Construction Industry

Abstract

Denne afhandling undersøgte dele af den norske byggebranche med det formål at identificere potentielle tilengelsesbarrierer over for VR. Dette var et samarbejdsprojekt mellem NTNU og Vixel, hvor forskeren gennemførte en brugbarhedstest (usability test) af virksomhedens produkt, Vrex. Deltagerne anvendt i undersøgelserne var blandet i køn, alder og omfattede både brancheeksperter og designstuderende ved NTNU. Resultaterne af denne afhandling antyder, at de fleste af de potentielle barrierer mod tilegnelsen af VR er relateret til organisatoriske forhold. Nogle af de tekniske barrierer angav det de 3D-modeller, der i øjeblikket bruges af branchen, er ikke bygget med VR i tankerne, og det der er en opfattelse af VR som meget krævende inden for både hardware og teknisk viden. Disse resultater diskuteres yderligere med hensyn til deres gyldighed. Rapporten konkluderer, at der er behov for yderligere arbejde for at validere resultaterne, som prøvestørrelsen var for lille til, at undersøgelsen kan være repræsentativ for byggebranchen i Norge.

This thesis investigated parts of the Norwegian construction industry with the intention of identifying potential adoption barriers towards VR. This was a collaborative project between NTNU and Vixel in which the researcher conducted a usability test of the company’s product, Vrex. The participants used in the studies were mixed in gender, age, and included both industry experts and design students at NTNU. The results of this thesis suggest that most of the potential barriers towards adoption of VR is related to organisational matters. Some of the technical barriers indicated that the 3D models currently used by the industry are not built with VR in mind and that there is a perception of VR as being highly demanding in both hardware and technical knowledge. These results are further discussed in terms of their validity. The report concludes that further work is needed to validate the findings as the sample size was too small for the survey to be representative of the construction industry in Norway.