Show, don't tell: Using Go-along Interviews in Immersive Virtual Reality

Abstract

Go-along interviewing is an emerging qualitative research method where researcher and interviewee go together to a location relevant for the research. Usually employed in ethnographic studies, the method is used to provide a contextualized understanding of a participant's experience. This paper explores performing Go-along interviews in Immersive Virtual Reality (VR). Through an analysis of ten interviews conducted inside our participants' Virtual Mind Palaces we show how the interlocutors' shared presence in the virtual environment established a common ground beneficial for communication. Being in VR enabled our participants to demonstrate interactions spontaneously, and, by providing a guided tour, show us relevant objects and locations in their Virtual Mind Palace. Benefits and challenges of adapting this method to VR are discussed and recommendations for researchers who want to conduct VR Go-along interviews are provided. Finally, we argue the method as an effective tool for eliciting contextual, phenomenological accounts of virtual environments.