A Cross-Media Presence Questionnaire: The ITC-Sense of Presence Inventory
Open accessAbstract
The presence research community would benefit from a reliable and valid cross-media presence measure that allows results from different laboratories to be compared and a more comprehensive knowledge base to be developed. The ITC-Sense of Presence Inventory (ITC-SOPI) is a new state questionnaire measure whose development has been informed by previous research on the determinants of presence and current self-report measures. It focuses on users' experiences of media, with no reference to objective system parameters. More than 600 people completed the ITC-SOPI following an experience with one of a range of noninteractive and interactive media. Exploratory analysis (principal axis factoring) revealed four factors: Sense of Physical Space, Engagement, Ecological Validity, and Negative Effects. Relations between the factors and the consistency of the factor structure with others reported in the literature are discussed. Preliminary analyses described here demonstrate that the ITC-SOPI is reliable and valid, but more rigorous testing of its psychometric properties and applicability to interactive virtual environments is required. Subject to satisfactory confirmatory analyses, the ITC-SOPI will offer researchers using a range of media systems a tool with which to measure four facets of a media experience that are putatively related to presence.
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Preliminary analyses of previous studies demonstrated good reliability (Cronbach's alphas of the subscales ranged from 0.77 to 0.94) and validity for the ITC-SOPI.
“Preliminary analyses of previous studies demonstrated good reliability (Cronbach's alphas of the subscales ranged from 0.77 to 0.94) and validity for the ITC-SOPI [40].”
From Meditation experts try Virtual Reality Mindfulness: A pilot study evaluation of the feasibility and acceptability of Virtual Reality to facilitate mindfulness practice in people attending a Mindfulness conference (2017) · cites this paper as [40]
Section 3.2 (Reliability; page unavailable) reports good internal reliability, but the four subscale alphas range from 0.76 to 0.94, not 0.77 to 0.94: Ecological Validity has an alpha of 0.76. Section 3.3 (Validity: Media Format; page unavailable) reports positive preliminary validation results, while noting that a more stringent test was needed. (LLM, conf=0.91)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe ITC-SOPI has been validated in adult populations and is commonly used in VR research.
“The ITC–Sense of Presence Inventory (ITC-SOPI) has been validated in adult populations and is commonly used in VR research [43].”
From A Virtual Reality–Based Cognitive Defusion Application for Youth Depression and Anxiety: Mixed Methods Experimental Study. (2025) · cites this paper as [43]
The Abstract reports preliminary evidence that the ITC-SOPI is reliable and valid, and §2.2 reports a sample aged 9–73, which included adults. But the Discussion (§4) says validation in interactive virtual environments still requires more rigorous testing, while the Contribution says only that it was in use in ten laboratories worldwide; these passages do not establish that it was commonly used in VR research. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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Cites
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“The ITC–Sense of Presence Inventory (ITC-SOPI) has been validated in adult populations and is commonly used in VR research [43].”
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- Authors
- Lessiter, J., Freeman, J., Keogh, E., & Davidoff, J.
- Affiliations
- Goldsmiths University of London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Lessiter, Jane
- Freeman, Jonathan
- Venue
- Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments
- Publisher
- MIT Press
- Published
- 2001-06
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 282-297
- ISSN
- 1054-7460 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2154502005
- Cited by
- 1,208
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 57 · 2025: 71 · 2024: 82 · 2023: 73 · 2022: 82 · 2021: 103 · 2020: 79 · 2019: 80 · 2018: 58 · 2017: 43 · 2016: 43 · 2015: 44 · 2014: 39 · 2013: 55 · 2012: 47
- FWCI
- 18.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- PRESENCE Virtual and Augmented Reality (publishedVersion)
- Goldsmiths (University of London) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Essex
- Temple University
- European Commission
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Flow Experience in Various Fields
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Keywords
- presence, engagement, ecological validity, adverse outcomes, interactive media, virtual worlds, psychometric validation, factor structure
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