Abstract:
Scope creep is a danger in projects and managing scope creep is tough. Internal and
external forces constantly impact projects, causing them to deviate from their intended
goals. Finally, these adjustments have an impact on the project's cost and timeline. This is
referred to as scope creep. It is, however, a significant issue caused by an insufficient
definition of scope, which leads to changes in scope that have a detrimental impact on the
time, cost, quality, or risk of a project. According to all project stakeholder groups,
communication is one of the main reasons for project scope creep, according to previous
studies. Immersive virtual reality (IVR) is one of the computer-mediated communication
technologies that has recently demonstrated significant promise in the AECO industry
concerning communication among project stakeholders. However, their effectiveness as
means of communication among the participants concerning scope understanding in
construction projects has not yet been thoroughly studied. This study helps fill this gap via a detailed comparison of traditional 2D drawings with an interactive virtual tour of a
commercial project in an immersive environment. This study designed controlled
experiments by recruiting industry professionals as project stakeholders. First, participants
were asked to review the 2D drawing of the project to understand the project scope. After
that, they were asked to review the project in the Immersive virtual environment to
understand the project scope. Targeted questions were asked at the end of both tasks
concerning communication effectiveness, challenges in communication, immersive
tendencies, and immersive presence. Results indicate that VR technologies are better at
understanding the project scope concerning traditional 2D drawings. In terms of
communication accuracy, 2D drawings are better than IVR. While discussing communication appropriateness, communication richness, discussion quality, and
communication openness IVR is better as compared to 2D traditional drawings. Also, VR technologies significantly improve the communication challenges concerning project
scope, which leads to a better understanding of the project scope and contributes to
decreasing the project scope creep effectively.
