Hello! Sorry about the lack of an update the past few weeks. It’s been crazy, as we concluded the VR Garden study data collection. Leaving Lifelong was bittersweet, as my partner Talia and I almost considered the Lifelong employees our coworkers, waving good morning and having chats with them in the hallways. I was able to meet so many incredible people during the data collection, and it has shaped how I think about my aging and attitudes towards life.

Now that data collection was complete, I began working on data analysis, which came with its own challenges. Mostly, I felt very lost on what processes I needed to run, and I very quickly realized how easy it was to misuse statistics and misrepresent data. It was tricky to pair my task now, with real implications, with the theoretical coursework I have completed. It has made me realize that I would like to take more statistics class in the future, as it is invaluable for research.

At the same time, I have begun working on another project with the lab. The goal of this new project is to determine the metrics that classify wayfinding confusion in real-world wayfinding tasks. This project was in its very early stages when I first got involved, and it was then that I realized how messy and iterative the research process is, as I often had to redo things as my PI and lab manager learned of new technology that we could incorporate, or read new literature. Truly an endless cycle of brainstorming, testing, and learning. Eventually, I think we have gotten our first working prototype, and I am excited to get the first pilot trials done. It is really SUCH a cool project, and the most interesting (and challenging) part is that there are no existing protocols for any similar studies. I am so excited to be part of groundbreaking work, and will likely continue with this work during the semester.