Independent Studies of Modern Experience
Reality Reports are independent, think tank-style studies conducted by Real World Labs to explore how people experience, interpret, and navigate the world around them. Each report focuses on a specific theme of modern relevance, examined through direct engagement with participants. Reality Reports are:
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independent and agenda-driven
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rigorous qualitative inquiry
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designed for depth and nuance over scale
They are intended to inform thinking, challenge assumptions, and contribute meaningfully to public and professional discourse.
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Forthcoming Reality Reports
01
Public Attitudes to Enlightenment Values in the UK and US
An in-depth qualitative study exploring how key Enlightenment ideals such as reason, freedom of thought and expression, individual autonomy, secularism and progress are understood and perceived in contemporary life.
Enlightenment ideals were central to the development of modern Western society. This study examines how these principles continue to shape attitudes, beliefs, and everyday decision-making in the UK and US.
Thematic analysis in progress.
02
Fitness Routines and Behaviour Change
Why do some people stay on track with a new fitness routine while others fall away? This 14-day real-time study follows people as they try to maintain a new exercise and dietary routine, capturing motivation, energy, mood, competing demands and lapses as they happen.
It will explore what makes routines easier or harder to sustain, how everyday life disrupts even strong intentions, and critically, what helps people recover after a lapse rather than give up altogether.
Launching in August 2026.
03
Living with Artificial Intelligence
As AI moves from novelty to everyday presence, this study explores how people are encountering AI in practice, how they understand it, use it, and respond to it emotionally as it becomes part of ordinary life.
It will explore how behaviours and expectations are shifting, alongside how people perceive risk and opportunity, make sense of rapid change, and form beliefs about the role AI should play in society.
Launching in September 2026.
Additional reports and working papers will be published as research programmes progress.