I Did Not Notice: A Comparison of Immersive Analytics with Augmented and Virtual Reality
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Summary
This study investigates how augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) influence sensemaking processes in quantitative immersive analytics. While previous research has compared AR and VR in non-quantitative contexts or focused on specific affordances, there is limited empirical evidence regarding their impact on 3D data visualization sensemaking. The authors aim to address this gap by comparing user performance, navigation strategies, and subjective experiences in both environments using identical data sets and hardware. The researchers conducted a within-subjects user study with 40 participants from diverse professional backgrounds. They utilized a Varjo XR-3 headset to ensure consistent fields of view and hardware capabilities across both AR and VR conditions. Participants completed two sets of six questions involving outlier detection, summarization, trend identification, and cluster recognition using a 3D scatter plot. To mitigate confounding variables, the VR environment simulated a real office setting, and the order of conditions was counterbalanced. Objective metrics included task completion time and accuracy, while subjective measures included the NASA Task Load Index (TLX), Presence Questionnaire (PQ), System Usability Scale (SUS), and the VZ-2 paper folding test. Video analysis and semi-structured interviews were also employed to assess physical navigation and user feedback. The results indicated no statistically significant differences in task accuracy or completion time between AR and VR, refuting the hypothesis that performance would differ significantly. System usability scores were also comparable, though technical issues with the headset affected some ratings. However, distinct differences emerged in user behavior and subjective workload. Participants exhibited a higher tolerance for cognitive load in VR, with frustration being less correlated with other workload aspects compared to AR. Contrary to the hypothesis that users would navigate more physically in AR, video analysis revealed that participants adopted more varied postures and engaged in more walking activity in VR. Conversely, participants traveled a greater total distance in AR. Notably, six participants reported not noticing the difference between the environments, while others cited AR’s situational awareness and VR’s immersive focus as distinct advantages. The study concludes that AR and VR offer comparable performance for quantitative immersive analytics but facilitate different sensemaking strategies. VR appears to enhance engagement and focus, allowing users to tolerate higher mental demand with less frustration, likely due to a deeper immersive experience. AR provides greater situational awareness and a sense of naturalness. The authors recommend designing cross-virtuality systems that allow users to switch between AR and VR based on task complexity and individual preferences. This approach leverages the immersive focus of VR for demanding analysis while utilizing AR for tasks requiring real-world connection or lower cognitive load.
Key finding
Users demonstrate comparable performance and workload in AR and VR for immersive analytics, but exhibit higher tolerance for cognitive load in VR and greater physical navigation variety in VR compared to AR.
Methodology
lab_experiment
Sample size: 40
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via author_sweep_intake on 2026-05-08 (2 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | author_sweep | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-08 |
| archive | success | canonical_url | — | — | 11 | 2026-06-06 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| enrich | success | semantic_scholar | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-04 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 15 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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