Examining students’ understanding of burglary behaviour: a virtual reality, mixed methods approach

Abstract Research has highlighted gaps in the publics ‘awareness of burglar behaviour and their perceptions of vulnerability, perhaps indicating a need for further prevention training. No such research exists examining students’ awareness, but is vital given students’ relatively high levels of burglary victimisation. To provide this research, students were asked to complete a mock burglary in a simulated environment, with burglary awareness inferred based on their performance relative to previous experienced burglars. Further context was added by qualitatively analysing participants’ verbalisations during the task. Performance was also compared between first and third year undergraduates to further examine differences in awareness across student populations. No significant differences were found between the behaviour of first and third years. Nevertheless, both groups showed an overall limited understanding of burglary behaviour through their performance and verbalisations. Results demonstrate that raising awareness of victimisation and burglary behaviour is integral to improve the safety of University students.