We wanted to explore whether moving around a dataset in VR could help people understand relationships between its values. With a Quest 2 and one semester, our team of three focused on a small prototype that people could use with their own CSV data.

We prioritized importing a CSV, plotting it across three axes, and selecting points to inspect their values. People had asked for custom chart styles, but we left those out so we could finish and test the core interaction within the semester.

I owned the spatial interface and interaction design. Our early layouts put too much information close to the user’s face. I reduced the controls to a few panels near the hands and used sliders to move through the data.

We gathered feedback from people familiar with Excel and Tableau. They responded positively to the panels and found point tooltips and filtering useful for exploring the data. This was informal usability feedback, so it helped us refine the interface without establishing how well the tool would perform in everyday analysis.

One participant said the prototype made data more enjoyable to explore. That was encouraging, but we still needed a direct comparison with their usual tools to assess speed or accuracy.

We completed a working Quest prototype and gathered feedback on its interface. The project demonstrated that the interaction could be built and used:

We did not establish that VR made analysis faster or more accurate. A useful next test would ask participants to complete the same analysis tasks in the prototype and their usual desktop tool, then compare errors, completion time, and comfort.