CReST: Design and Evaluation of the Cross-Reality Study Tool

In this work, we describe our experience developing and evaluating the Cross-Reality Study Tool (CReST), which allows researchers to conduct and observe Virtual Reality (VR) user studies from an Augmented Reality perspective. So far, most research on conducting VR user studies has centred around tools for asynchronous setup, data collection and analysis, or (immersive) replays. Conversely, CReST is centred around supporting the researcher synchronously. We replicated three VR studies as example cases, applied CReST to them, and conducted an interview with one author of each case. We then performed a case study, and recruited 17 participants to take part in a user study where the researchers used CReST to observe participant interaction with virtual drawer and closet artefacts. We make CReST available for other researchers, as a tool to enable direct observation of participants in VR, and perform rapid, qualitative evaluations.