Chapter 5 102 Line of fire The AAR line of fire of the weapon the participants carried during the VR training was turned off or turned on during the entire AAR. The line of fire provided participants with information about the positioning and pointing of their own and their team member’s weapons. Because participants were equipped with a rifle-type weapon, participants were tasked with handling their weapon intentionally throughout the scenario (i.e., pointing the weapon only in highthreat situations). The weapons were never holstered (as might be the case with service pistols), therefore, the line of fire of the weapon is visible throughout the entire scenario, also when the weapon was safely pointing to the ground. Dependent variable Learning efficacy We assessed learning efficacy using a self-developed questionnaire specific for police training in virtual training systems. The questionnaire contains three items: (i) “how confident are you that you can put into practice what you have learned in this training?” (ii) “if one of the situations trained with this system occurs on-duty, I will be better able to master it,” (iii) “thanks to the training in the virtual system, I will be able to handle demanding operational situations more safely in the future.” These items were selected in accordance with the definition of learning efficacy — the participants’ level of confidence in the application of their acquired knowledge and skills in real-life situations (Srivastava et al., 2019). Participants assessed these items on a 5-point Likert-type scale where 1 = extremely uncertain/strongly disagree and 5 = extremely certain/strongly agree. The average score of the three items was used for data analysis. To assess the internal consistency reliability of the scale, we computed McDonald (1999) omega using RStudio 2022.07.02 which returned an ω value of .75, implying good internal consistency based on the minimum standard of reliability .70 (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994). Procedure Each data collection day started at the location of the City Police Zurich. Participants were scheduled to attend on specific training days by the training coordinator of the City Police Zurich in advance. At the start of the experiment, participants received information about the training day, the training objectives, and general information about the experiment. Participants then provided written informed consent. Next, participants were taken to the VR training location. At the VR location, participants took off their police-specific gear (weapon, belt, vest) and got fitted into the VR gear. Teams of four participants completed the VR training scenario. After
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