Remote XR studies: the golden future of HCI research?

While extended reality (XR) research usually takes place in a con- trolled lab setting, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many re- searchers to move their research out of the lab and conduct so called “Remote XR Research”. Our position for the workshop is two-fold: First, there is a need to define what the term “Remote XR Research” means and identify the key challenges in validating remote XR research as a methodology. This enables researchers to understand the advantages (e.g., better representation of demographics, re- mote in-situ experiments) and the potential pitfalls of this research method for HCI research. Second, remote XR research (however it is defined) can be particularly helpful in situations where researchers aim to study real-world systems or user behaviour that are usually challenging to study or require a significant amount of effort and resources. Remote XR studies can and should, if the research question(s) and research aim(s) allow it, be applied to different fields of human-centred research, especially during times where face-to-face user studies are prohibited.