E-Learning Ecosystems for People With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

Evaluating the Potential of Immersive Virtual Reality-Based Serious Games Interventions for Autism: A Pocket Guide Evaluation Framework

“…A systematic analysis of the literature on the topic [22] accompanied by a study of recent literature on this topic (e.g., [61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68]) revealed the presence of several methodological issues underpinning the evaluation process: it can be like a black hole since it does not produce rigorous scientific studies to show the efficacy of IVR-based SG interventions for ASD and in real-world applications of such intervention; the effectiveness is reduced [35,36]. Among these methodological issues, the need for a multidisciplinary team and the involvement of stakeholders in the evaluation process, although already addressed in the literature related to this field of research, remain unresolved [30,33,61,145].…”

“…Secondly, Kitchenam's method [70] was enhanced by the study of recent literature on this topic, e.g., [61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68] and by the strenuous efforts of a well-balanced multidisciplinary team, consisting of two psychologists skilled in autism and research methodology and two ICT experts specialising in designing and developing IVR-based systems and SG. Lastly, the guidelines to address the methodological criteria and their sub-criteria are firmly rooted in established scientific evidence.…”

“…Indeed, the following methodological criteria and sub-criteria result from the joining of the outcomes obtained in Peretti et al [22], the most recent referred references on the topic (e.g., [65][66][67][68]), and the most recent research articles describing IVR-based SG interventions for ASD (i.e., four articles: [61][62][63][64]). The deep study of these articles has also highlighted the same methodological issues, ranging from sample size to the lack of ethical committee approval.…”

“…Overall, it emerges that each of the methodological issues obtained by Peretti et al [22] (see Table 5) undermines the possibility of conducting a proper evaluation of IVR-based SG interventions for an ASD individual. This awareness prompted us to make a greater effort by combining such evidence with what is actually known in the literature on this topic (e.g., [61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68]) to transform these methodological issues into criteria that can be addressed systematically, thus enabling controlled evaluation. The result is the identification of six methodological criteria and their sub-criteria, as illustrated in the following section.…”

“…Nowadays, achieving this goal is not an easy task since there is a lack of evaluation guidelines that allow for avoiding or dealing satisfactorily with methodological issues. A detailed examination of the methodological issues that emerged from a previous systematic review [22] accompanied by a study of recent literature on this topic (e.g., [61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68]) leads us to identify methodological criteria for avoiding these issues in future evaluation processes. The term criterion (plural, criteria) refers to all the elements that allow a methodologically controlled study to be conducted [60,69].…”