Go-along interviewing is an emerging qualitative research method where researcher and interviewee go together to a location relevant for the research. Usually employed in ethnographic studies, the method is used to provide a contextualized understanding of a participant’s experience. This paper explores performing Go-along interviews in Immersive Virtual Reality (VR). Through an analysis of ten interviews conducted inside our participants’ Virtual Mind Palaces we show how the interlocutors’ shared presence in the virtual environment established a common ground beneficial for communication. Being in VR enabled our participants to demonstrate interactions spontaneously, and, by providing a guided tour, show us relevant objects and locations in their Virtual Mind Palace. Benefits and challenges of adapting this method to VR are discussed and recommendations for researchers who want to conduct VR Go-along interviews are provided. Finally, we argue the method as an effective tool for eliciting contextual, phenomenological accounts of virtual environments.

Virtual reality (VR) applications for exposure therapy predominantly use computer-generated imagery to create controlled environments in which users can be exposed to their fears. Creating 3D animations, however, is demanding and time-consuming. This paper presents a participatory approach for prototyping VR scenarios that are enabled by 360° video and grounded in lived experiences. We organized a participatory workshop with adolescents to prototype such scenarios, consisting of iterative phases of ideation, storyboarding, live-action plays recorded by a 360° camera, and group evaluation. Through an analysis of the participants' interactions, we outline how they worked to design prototypes that depict situations relevant to those with a fear of public speaking. Our analysis also explores how participants used their experiences and reflections as resources for design. Six clinical psychologists evaluated the prototypes from the workshop and concluded they were viable therapeutic tools, emphasizing the immersive, realistic experience they presented. We argue that our approach makes the design of VR scenarios more accessible.