Open Access

Effi Freya Picka, Annika Vogel, Marie-Sophie Roder, Jonas Birkle, Daniela Schrenk, Jessica Linnemann, Julia Moritz, Stefan Pfeffer

• In several domains of product design - like medical device design - risk related use scenarios have to be analyzed in an early stage of design process. Virtual reviews with users make it possible to get early insights in use problems. Also, situations that are difficult to imitate in reality can be modeled and simulated in virtual reality without risking the health of user. Therefore, virtual usability tests are a promising approach which allow testing different scenarios under controlled conditions. We chose a sample scenario from medical device design and compare and evaluate different technical systems which can be used for virtual usability tests. Aim is to derive guidance for virtual usability tests including systems that can be used for specific conditions and the qualitative and quantitative data, which can be collected with these systems. A formative test is performed to evaluate and compare different systems. Also, a summative test is performed to evaluate the selected systems. Results show that virtual usability tests make it possible to test scenarios with users in an early stage and thus to encounter possible interaction problems. But there are also many additional and new things to consider compared to normal usability tests, such as checking motion sickness, maintaining presence and the extensive operation of the technology. Finally, a proposed method for virtual usability testing is described which also comprises our equipment recommendations for virtual usability tests.