Purpose

The virtual reality headsets that are available nowadays combine the different physical spaces and the other environments around us to create a sense of simulation which will make the individual feel a lively environment around him (Cheng, Chieng & Chieng, 2014). The individual wearing the headset can enable himself to different programs like some audio or videos or any other programs (Merchant et al. 2014) . Virtual reality has affected our world in an altogether new way. Researchers claim that virtual reality will have multidimensional uses as because there are different uses of virtual reality (Faiola et al. 2013). The review has been done with the sole aim to determine the uses and the sustainability of the new technology and its uses for the future (Laver et al. 2015). The researcher has cited a variety of works in assignment 1 which will be essential for the future generation. He has considered different types of researches to determine the different types of uses as well as the impact of the technology in the present scenario. The use of ten sources on virtual reality has helped the research to attain a compact nature. As mentioned earlier the review helps the readers to assess and analyze the research that has been done by the researcher. A proper analysis and evaluation is one of the main aims of the literature review.

Justification 

The report prepared by the researcher has taken the help of a number of different researches that has been quite effective to determine the various scopes, uses and disadvantages of the mentioned trend. The review that has been prepared by the researcher has made a thorough assessment of each and every sources prepared by him in the first assignment (Crespo et al. 2016). The systematic review of the research topic has been done according to a proper arrangement. This stepwise arrangement of the review has been helpful in making the research gain a compact and flawless stature.

The different sources of research work though have a multidimensional approach but it is based on the different uses and scopes of the virtual world in modern day.

Critical Analysis and Evaluation

Virtual Reality Models

Figure 1- Human Experiences of Virtual Reality

Source: (Laver et al. 2015)

Figure 2- Model of Trust in Virtual Reality

Source: (Merchant et al. 2014)

Key Concepts

Virtual Reality has grown in stature in the last decade. It has made its presence felt in different types of applications starting from games to robotic medical surgeries.

Virtual Reality has many uses of its own. The investigator has highlighted the research works of other researchers in assignment 1. A thorough analysis of the researches has highlighted some key points related to virtual reality. Some of them are;

Workplace Impact- The research of Colbert, A., Yee, N., & George, G. (2016) has tried to determine the impact of virtual reality of the workplace in the future. The gradual digitalization of the workplace is slowly changing the scenario. The new innovations in the workplace have made the organizations more efficient and have helped them to boost up their organizational and operational performance. The use of mobile technology is also on a rise as because smart phones have practically taken up the manual burdens of the people and reduced the effort.

People’s Reaction- According to the research performed by Jin K. Hammick and Moon J Lee the people who are shy in nature does not react to virtual life easily while the extrovert people are more active when reacting to virtual life. Virtual world thus has more meaning to the active people in comparison to the shy people. The main aim of the research is to focus on the second life that can be only felt in a virtual environment. The following report is however in striking contrast to the report of Baker and Oswald where the researchers claim that even shy people are equally active in social media.

Video Games- The research on video games has been one of the main aspect of the research. The improvement of the graphics, ensuring a real time environment has changed the way games are perceived nowadays. Video games engage the people and they are able to spend a popular time either by playing football or cricket or by engaging in virtual war games. The video games industry has risen on its ranks and has been one of the highest revenue grosser of the modern world. The mentioned industry is a billion dollar industry and experts predict a steady rise of the industry in the coming years.

Health Care Uses- Virtual reality has also set foot in the health care industry as the latest medical equipments are all being manufactured in a digitalized form. The digital equipments have made the task easy for the service providers in the health care industry. The doctors have recently started performing surgeries using virtual headsets that are believed to be much more effective and flawless than its earlier counterparts.

Retail Industry Uses- The research work published in Elseiver has highlighted the significance of virtual reality in performing complex operations in the retail industry. The rise in the number of online stores has made it easier for the people to surf the mobile applications of the different retailers and order the items that are needed by them. The online retail market and consumerism has seen a huge growth especially in the last couple of years.

Key Areas

The research on Virtual reality has exposed some key points related to the following. Video games have been one of the latest trends in the modern world and it has extended its limits from mere pc games to mobile applications. Research conducted on video games has shown a huge rise in the last decade (Laver et al. 2015). People irrespective of their age are getting obsessed with it as video games provide the opportunity to interact in an environment that is almost similar like the real world. Another development that is perhaps the most revolutionary is the rise in the numbers of social media platforms. Humans have became social animals and are engaged in different kinds of activities like making friendship with unknown persons from some different parts of the world, chatting with online friends, creating a virtual world of his own, dating and many more as such. Some of the famous social networking sites include Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The creation of online marketing has been another new trend of the modern era. People are now practically forced to buy different things starting from clothing to household things, groceries from the internet because of the short time available (Gee, 2014).

Controversy

Virtual Reality promises itself to be one of the latest technologies existing in the modern world. Though the presence of advanced technological features that it possess some common backdrops have questioned its acceptability (Diemer et al. 2015). A number of controversies have cropped up recently that have challenged its existence. Some of the common problems that Virtual Reality faces are;

High Cost- The majority of the population across the globe is unable to afford such a costly technology. This makes them vulnerable to being left out from the rest of the population.

Absence of Regulation- Constructing the laws and regulations of the following technology is a bit difficult because of the ever changing development of the online world. Absence of such a proper framework leads to the increase of different illegal activities that is banned in the real world.

Technology Flaws- There are a number of drawbacks and flaws in the technology that are still in the development process.

Health Issues- A recent survey on Virtual Reality has revealed that many people using VR headsets face issues regarding health.

Communication Problems-The communication in virtual reality is still now not developed and there are many constraints to be addressed.

Literature Gap

The use of adequate number of sources, proper explanation and a critical analysis to determine the various trends of virtual reality has been very much helpful while preparing the literature review. Though the review has been almost successful in analyzing the research it has missed out on some key points that were needed to be researched (Colbert, Yee & George, 2016). The researcher missed out on some points that needed to be discussed in detail. The scope of the literature review which has been mentioned at the very beginning of the review has not been properly discussed throughout the whole research (Valmaggia et al. 2016). The negativities and the comparison of Virtual Reality have not been discussed in an appropriate manner. The researcher could have highlighted the research based on more frameworks and models to make the literature review more compact in nature. The researcher has also failed to provide a separate paragraph for mentioning the set of pros and cons of virtual reality. The literature review should have been much more descriptive and evaluative. The researcher has put his focus on elaborating on the concepts provided by him. He should have been much more descriptive about the different sources of the research. In other words the review clearly lacks the presence of a proper Critical analysis and evaluation (Laver et al. 2015).

Methodological Contribution

The investigator has completed his research by using a qualitative form of research. Qualitative form of research generally involved the collection of different information and sources that may vary from primary to secondary. The researcher did not used any numerical and statistics to complete his research. His research was purely based on meanings, symbols, descriptions and frameworks. In contrast to the quantitative form of research qualitative research is less objective and much more subjective in nature. The researcher collected the information mainly by asking questions to different individuals and conducting different in-depth interviews with the service users (Merchant et al. 2014). Though qualitative research can be separated into a number of ways the research was conducted using grounded theory which again involved the use of interviews, surveys and long term observations. Following the proper method systematically helped the researcher to prepare the following literature review properly. The researcher also collected secondary information from the newspapers, some special journals like Elseiver, modern study on video games and some tabloids that dealt with Virtual Reality. Secondary information sources helped the researcher to design the research in an organized manner and make the research more compact in nature.

Conclusion

The literature review has explored all the possible dimensions that has been provided in assignment 1. The different works of the researchers has been discussed and explained properly. After going through the research it can be concluded that Virtual Reality has surely created ripples across the world because of the advanced technological developments. The future looks bright for it as because it is slowly finding its acceptance in different fields like e-marketing, online sales, online activities, creating high end digital graphics and also structuring different new games that provide almost real life experience.  The presence of latest and advanced technologies however has failed to make it flawless as because there have been a lot of issues with the technology. A number of issues have recently bothered the stability of the technology and it needs some more time to make itself a world class technology.

References

Cheng, L. K., Chieng, M. H., &Chieng, W. H. (2014). Measuring virtual experience in a three-dimensional virtual reality interactive simulator environment: a structural equation modeling approach. Virtual Reality, 18(3), 173-188.

Colbert, A., Yee, N., & George, G. (2016). The digital workforce and the workplace of the future. Academy of Management Journal, 59(3), 731-739.

Crespo, A. B., Idrovo, G. G., Rodrigues, N., & Pereira, A. (2016, December). A virtual reality UAV simulation with body area networks to promote the elders life quality. In Technology and Innovation in Sports, Health and Wellbeing (TISHW), International Conference on (pp. 1-7). IEEE.

Diemer, J., Alpers, G. W., Peperkorn, H. M., Shiban, Y., &Mühlberger, A. (2015). The impact of perception and presence on emotional reactions: a review of research in virtual reality. Frontiers in psychology, 6, 26.

Faiola, A., Newlon, C., Pfaff, M., &Smyslova, O. (2013). Correlating the effects of flow and telepresence in virtual worlds: Enhancing our understanding of user behavior in game-based learning. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3), 1113-1121.

Gayer-Anderson, C. (2016). The application of virtual reality technology to understanding psychosis. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 51(7), 937-939.

Gee, J. P. (2014). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. Macmillan.

Grewal, D., Roggeveen, A. L., &Nordfält, J. (2017). The future of retailing. Journal of Retailing, 93(1), 1-6.

Hammick, J. K., & Lee, M. J. (2014). Do shy people feel less communication apprehension online? The effects of virtual reality on the relationship between personality characteristics and communication outcomes. Computers in Human Behavior, 33, 302-310.

Labrecque, L. I., vordemEsche, J., Mathwick, C., Novak, T. P., &Hofacker, C. F. (2013). Consumer power: Evolution in the digital age. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27(4), 257-269.

Laver, K. E., George, S., Thomas, S., Deutsch, J. E., & Crotty, M. (2015). Virtual reality for stroke rehabilitation. The Cochrane Library.

Merchant, Z., Goetz, E. T., Cifuentes, L., Keeney-Kennicutt, W., & Davis, T. J. (2014). Effectiveness of virtual reality-based instruction on students' learning outcomes in K-12 and higher education: A meta-analysis. Computers & Education, 70, 29-40.

Valmaggia, L. R., Latif, L., Kempton, M. J., & Rus-Calafell, M. (2016). Virtual reality in the psychological treatment for mental health problems: An systematic review of recent evidence. Psychiatry Research, 236, 189-195.

Wexelblat, A. (Ed.). (2014). Virtual reality: applications and explorations. Academic Press.

Zhang, H., Lu, Y., Gupta, S., & Zhao, L. (2014). What motivates customers to participate in social commerce? The impact of technological environments and virtual customer experiences. Information & Management, 51(8), 1017-1030.