Research on the road using the ExperiVan

Background: The BMS Lab is the faculty lab of the faculty of behaviour, management and social sciences (BMS) of the University of Twente. It consists of over 450 m2 lab facilities. The majority of its 240 annual research projects physically takes place at fixed lab spaces at the university. Although having clear advantages (e.g. high control, fixed set-up), university locations also come with substantial restrictions. The most important drawback is that the research tends to focus on high-educated, and Western student samples from relatively high socio-economic status. These samples are arguably limited representative. Moreover, inclusion of elderly, patients and healthcare professionals is challenging. Methods: To tackle the abovementioned restrictions, BMS commissioned a mobile laboratory in 2018. The goal was to allow research on the road, with participants and professionals from the street or at specific locations. Based on an extensive design process and input from different stakeholders and experts, it was constructed and first used for field measurements in June 2019. Findings: Three studies have been carried out with the mobile laboratory called ExperiVan since then. This included an eye tracking experiment using participants from the street, in which participants were asked about their opinion on an informative website about infection diseases. Secondly, on-site evaluations with healthcare professionals were carried out, to gather expert input on a serious game about dilemmas regarding zoonosis. Lastly, the ExperiVan was successfully used in a virtual reality calibration study. Discussion: The mobile laboratory is used in different studies with participant from. Usage so far shows that it is a fitting facility to conduct field research in naturalistic settings, using technology such as eye tracking or VR.