York University’s Risk and Insurance Studies Centre (RISC) in Ontario, Canada, is a global Think Tank that leads research in Risk Management and Insurance with the aim towards a sustainable future.
The RISC conducts important research that facilitates dialogue between academia, private industry, the public sector, and government bodies.
Housefires represent one of the most common emergencies experienced by Canadians, however only a tiny percentage of the population has experienced this in their lifetime. In studying people’s readiness to purchase extra protection in the event of a fire, the scholars at RISC hypothesized that people would be more willing to purchase this insurance after exposure to a housefire. However, this is a difficult situation to safely create and replicate, even in a controlled environment.
Choice experiments, along with responses to a set of survey questions based on hypothetical situations, are widely used in economics to elicit consumer preferences or valuations that are not observed. The problem is that choice experiments are subject to hypothetical bias – the potential error that arises in our choices because we are faced with a hypothetical rather than an actual situation.
Research shows that using Virtual Reality (VR) can simulate a potentially dangerous experience in a repeatable, safe, controlled environment, as well as attenuate the bias associated with choice experiments. York University entrusted Xpan’s team of creatives to develop a VR experience that would further their efforts with risk research.
Xpan’s credo was brought to life as we developed the right VR solution for York University’s RISC Department:
RISC’s VR housefire simulation obtained funding support from eCampus Ontario and procured Oculus Quest devices from the Centre to deliver the experience for up to 20 participants at a time in a tethered environment.
The experiment involved approximately 120 subjects who completed a survey asking them to rate their willingness to pay for added fire protection on their insurance policies. After a period of six to eight weeks, the subjects experienced the VR simulation and then took the same survey to measure the change (if any) in their responses.
Xpan Interactive developed the simulation as a holographic environment using Unity as the graphics engine. The Xpan and RISC teams used an agile workflow and active collaboration to make the concept a reality and bring the housefire scenario to life.
The VR scenario was delivered as a three-minute simulation of someone experiencing a housefire. The length of the simulation accurately represented the average time a person has to escape a housefire. Using a combination of visual and audio effects, the simulation was very effective in testing. It created an authentic impact on users, eliciting the intended fear response, while preserving the physical and psychological safety of the participants.
Select the tile or click HERE to see a compressed recording of the simulation in action.
The simulation can be accessed on the eCampus Ontario Open Library. Please see access details below:
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