--- title: "CHI 2024 paper: what the Google VR study reported" description: "The peer-reviewed CHI paper, read closely: how the scenarios were built with Google's employee volunteers and what the trainees reported." canonical: https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/research-evidence/vr-dei-training-google-chi-2024 --- [Our Work](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work) / [Research & Evidence](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/research-evidence) # VR DEI training at Google A peer-reviewed case study co-authored by three Google researchers and PTR co-founder Leonie Sanderson, describing four VR scenarios that Google's DEI program trialled with employee volunteers in 2023. [Download the Google research paper PDF](https://peopletechrevolution.com/uploads/docs/people-tech-revolution-google-vr-inclusion-training-chi-2024.pdf) Two avatars meet in a VR roleplay scenario. ## Built with Equal Reality, a subsidiary of People Tech Revolution Equal Reality's stated role, from the paper's acknowledgements, was to help Google's team "design and build the virtual reality environments" used in the training. PTR co-designed the scenarios with Google's employee volunteers; co-founder Leonie Sanderson led the work, drawing each scene from a real incident Google employees had shared. ## Each scene, from two points of view The paper reports the scenarios were developed between 2021 and 2023 by 13 Google employee volunteers from the company's DEI program. Each one lets a trainee experience the same difficult workplace moment from two different characters' points of view. Making assumptions. A video call where a colleague's expertise is wrongly assumed based on appearance. Everyday Diversity. Two overheard office conversations involving tokenism and dismissiveness of cultural and religious needs. Performance and Feedback. A performance conversation shaped by bias and stereotyping, between a manager and a report. In Group / Out Group. A new team member's first meeting, and assumptions about a shared cultural frame. Avatars practise a workplace conversation. ### Call it out, call it in, or ignore it In each scenario, trainees choose how to respond, then discuss the choice with a facilitator afterwards. The paper states that a live, facilitated group debrief after each scenario, rather than a scripted in-app discussion, was a deliberate design choice. ## A QA phase, then a first cohort Development followed a QA phase of 7 testing sessions and 20 volunteer testers, who reported over 100 issues, before a first cohort of Google employees used the training in September 2023. Colleagues in an open-plan office. ### 32 invited, 26 accepted 32 members of Google's security team senior staff were invited to an optional session; 26 accepted, of whom 23 used Meta Quest 2 headsets and 3 used a desktop version. Feedback came through optional, anonymous surveys after both the QA sessions and the training sessions. A trainee in a headset, mid-scenario. Three participants used a desktop version instead. ## What the paper reports Two separate surveys: one after the QA phase, one after the first training cohort. QA testing feedback, 11 of 20 testers responded. 91% of the 11 QA testers who responded said the scenarios felt real to them 82% of the same 11 testers rated the post-VR group discussion useful or very useful Training cohort feedback, 7 of 26 trainees returned the survey. 94% average satisfaction (4.7 out of 5) among the 7 trainees who returned the survey 82% agreement (4.1 out of 5) the training was better than Google's standard DEI training A further 82% (4.1 out of 5), from 7 of 8 responses to that item, agreed the training was useful for understanding DEI issues. Participants described the change of viewpoint as making "microaggressions felt more real." The case study moves from design to reported results. ## Limitations the authors note The authors describe the findings as preliminary and self-reported, from one company, with no comparison or control group, and they raise five open concerns of their own. Hardware fit and comfort, an open concern. The cost of scaling headsets and facilitators. Whether the response reflects novelty, not a lasting effect. The paper also raises limited visual fidelity of avatars and environments, and participants wanting more agency in how scenarios unfold. It draws on and cites earlier VR empathy and DEI-training research, including Herrera et al. (2018) on long-term empathy effects of VR perspective-taking, and Mason (2022) on VR-based DEI training. > "We could see how powerful VR is at giving people 'a-ha moments' and wanted to create training that has an impact on people's behaviours." Leonie Sanderson Co-founder, People Tech Revolution. [Startup Spotlight, Aerospace Xelerated, 2023](https://medium.com/aeroxelerated/spotlight-people-tech-revolution-62d11e4ae535) Want to talk through what this study means for your own program? [Open the contact form](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/research-evidence/vr-dei-training-google-chi-2024#contact) Ask our CEO Simon Lowe’s Digital Twin a question ## Sources Full citation, DOI and the paper itself. ### [Leveraging Virtual Reality to Enhance Diversity and Inclusion training at Google](https://peopletechrevolution.com/uploads/docs/people-tech-revolution-google-vr-inclusion-training-chi-2024.pdf) Bursztein, Brown, Sanderson and Kelley. CHI EA '24, ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Honolulu, May 2024. DOI: [10.1145/3613905.3637128](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3637128) A case study, co-authored by three Google researchers and Leonie Sanderson of Equal Reality; findings described by the authors as preliminary. [Google Research publication page](https://research.google/pubs/leveraging-virtual-reality-to-enhance-diversity-and-inclusion-training-at-google/) · [CHI 2024 conference program listing](https://programs.sigchi.org/chi/2024/program/content/150643) Related PTR work - [Google case study: full delivery detail](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/google-vr-dei-training) - [VR DEI training for nurse leaders, Mayo Clinic studies](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/research-evidence/vr-nursing-leaders-mayo-clinic) - [All three peer-reviewed papers](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/research-evidence/papers) - [XR overview](https://peopletechrevolution.com/xr)