Description
When we think of space, we think of adventure, technological advancement, discovery, and overall positive things (Tutton, 2021). We do not seem to think of the possibilities that crimes inevitability will take place in outer space. Space crime sounds futuristic, and encompasses the “giggle factor”: the invasion of an alien species in usually the United States that need to be stopped come to mind rather than disputes on the International Space Station. Understanding how crimes can take place in outer space and how people respond to them will put us front and centre of an emerging field.
How to understand space crime poses a challenge. With our project, we capitalize on the possibilities of virtual reality (VR) to do so. With VR you can create any environment possible. We have seen the possibilities of VR to understand crime, in investigating how people would escape a building (Arias et al, 2019), mimic the feelings of solitary confinement (Clifford & White, 2020) or let burglars roam around virtual neighbourhoods to safely discover what deters them (Van Sintemaartensdijk et al, 2021). Using virtual simulations for space missions is on its way (https://medium.com/@humanspaceprogram/how-important-are-space-simulations-2d735b0f04df), so it seems logical to use VR to understand space crime.
We will develop a virtual environment in which we expose participants to outer space, and pose them with a scenario of crime taking place on a spaceship, while also exposing half of the participants to the same scenario without VR. We will use physiological measures to measure heart rate to establish immersion into the virtual spaceship and the scenario. We will ask participants the responses they would take in the scenario, and subsequently how their perception of space crime potentially has changed.
Note that as space criminology is not an existing field, this project will pose a challenge as literature is limited.
search question
The research questions that we could answer in this project are:
- Is VR a suitable method to study crimes in outer space?
- What do people know about spacecrime?
- Can we change perception of spacecrime?
Research method
Most likely methods are experiments. We will work with a VR simulation that should be ready prior to the start of the assignment that will be modified.
Data-analysis
The quantitative data of this study will be analysed by quantitative data analysis programmes such as SPSS or R.
INFORMATION
Please contact Lynn Weiher (l.weiher@utwente.nl) when you are interested in this assignment. The assignment is open to two students.
Literature
Arias, S., Fahy, R., Ronchi, E., Nilsson, D., Frantzich, H., & Wahlqvist, J. (2019). Forensic virtual reality: investigating individual behavior in the MGM grand fire. Fire Safety Journal, 109, 102861.
Clifford, K., & White, R. (2020). Mediated representations of prisoner experience and public empathy. The Palgrave handbook of incarceration in popular culture, 265-287.
Tutton, R. (2021). Sociotechnical imaginaries and techno-optimism: examining outer space utopias of Silicon Valley. Science as Culture, 30(3), 416-439.
Van Sintemaartensdijk, I., Van Gelder, J. L., Van Prooijen, J. W., Nee, C., Otte, M., & Van Lange, P. (2021). Mere presence of informal guardians deters burglars: A virtual reality study. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 17, 657-676.