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.
Together, we will test a virtual environment in which we expose participants to outer space, and pose them with crime related scenario (a verbal harassment) taking place on a spaceship, while also exposing half of the participants to the same scenario without VR. We will ask participants the responses they would take in the scenario, and subsequently how their perception of space crime potentially has changed. This project is a starting point for a larger project on spacecrime, and thus the goal is to eventually publish this study. If you are interested in publishing together when data-collection is done, that is certainly an option.
Research questions
1. Is VR a suitable method to study crimes in outer space?
2. What do people know about space crime?
3. Can we change perception of space crime?
Type of research
In-person experiments using VR, quantitative research, potential qualitative research as additional possibilities.
KEYWORDS
Space crime; VR; outer space; space criminology
Information
Please contact Steven Watson (s.j.watson@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.