Using Virtual Reality in Discrimination Research: Ethical Considerations and Participants’ Perspectives

Virtual reality (VR) can offer unique advantages for studying how individuals respond to stressful events, including racial discrimination, but the ethics of using VR in this context remain underexplored. We briefly review possible scientific benefits and risks of using VR to examine racial discrimination. We also report results from 130 participants of color (Mage=24.21, 49.2% women) who completed a VR experiment where they were assigned to either a racial discrimination or daily hassle condition. Participants exposed to the racial discrimination simulation recalled greater stress than their counterparts, but groups did not differ on whether they thought the VR experience was more or less intense than the same interaction presented using other research methods, such as reading vignettes or watching videos. Participants reported feeling ethically treated and shared their perspectives on the risks and benefits of VR-based research. We discuss ethical, educational, and research implications for using VR in discrimination research.