Comments for Is Eye Tracking Out of Reach? (http://www.insideria.com/2008/04/is-eye-tracking-out-of-reach.html)

Is Eye Tracking Out of Reach?

2008-04-16T16:50:38Z

Is eye tracking out of reach for web and RIA developers? I think for the most part today cost and lack of knowledge are the two biggest barriers for your average web developer when considering usability testing via eye tracking.

Cost is the easiest factor to examine. Eye trackers are generally in the $30,000 USD range, this of course to buy the whole set up. Alternatively, you could hire a company that already has the equipment, and specialized in using and providing you a report. This is probably quicker but still not cheap.

Of course you could go DIY and set up your own low cost eye tracker, but seems like it would be even harder. There are other solutions like Scrutinizer which simulates your foveal vision, CrazyEgg which gives heatmaps of clicks on a site or RobotReplay which can replay an entire user session as if you were watching over their shoulder.

Lack of knowledge is a bit fuzzier as it falls into two major categories: 1) lack of expertise in using an eye tracker and 2) lack of understanding of the benefits.

Eye tracking equipment is quite sophisticated and can be finicky to set up. Furthermore, once a user is instrumented you still have to know how to conduct a proper usability test. Even once you have the test results back you may not know what to do with them or how interpret them.

According to a post on why AdaptivePath doesn’t use eye tracking:

“First, lack of availability of it and familiarity with it as a research tool.
Second, I find it difficult to interpret the data”

One of the factors with lack of understanding the benefits may also be a result of designers who are a little over confident in their own abilities. In the AdaptivePath post one person states that any good designer should be able to figure where a users eyes will be drawn.

“I think a good information designer could have devised the flow of the eye on the UI on their own.”

Based on my understanding of vision and the brain, which is limited, that seems unlikely. Sune one of the commenters echoes this with:

“Information designers are NOT able to anticipate eye movements, not even for very simple stimulus. As part of my thesis some years ago I did an experiment, where this was evident. Experienced web designers were asked to predict the typical gaze path, and this was compared against the actual eye movement pattern. There were no correlation.”

Still this coming from AdaptivePath one of the leading web UX and design companies today, they even coined the term Ajax!

I haven’t been involved in any eye tracking studies myself but I will be working with usability expert and eye tracking researcher from Simon Fraser University this summer to determine the correlation between eye tracking, usability and some of the low cost web tools available today. So I’ll keep this thread going.

Let’s figure this out and push back on guys like Jakob Nielsen who are slamming RIAs and Web 2.0 because of a few early examples that didn’t make the cut in terms of usability.

What process or tools do you use for usability testing?

Comment from Rhys Tague on 2008-04-16

2008-04-17T05:31:50Z

Hey Andre Nice article.

My process for usability testing is actually getting 2 or 3 users to use the app and fill out a survey. Of course I am not in the room to watch them work on it, otherwise it makes them uncomfortable. Then after they are finished I then sit down with them and run through their survey so I can get an understanding why they did what they did. After that I get them to run through the program again while I am in the room, and allow them to explain why they are doing this and doing that.

I then see for any improvements and if they are feasible. I would get more users, If I could. I suppose the more users you have the bigger the sample space of data or feedback you can get.

I have never taken a liking to any of the usability software out there, as for some reason I am always left hanging for more understanding. I still like face to face conversations with users.

Comment from Andre Charland on 2008-04-17

2008-04-17T22:46:03Z

Thanks Rhys. Sounds like a good process, simple yet effective.

What usability software have you tried. (And what do you mean by "usability sofware";-))

Comment from laurie gray on 2008-04-18

2008-04-19T02:21:35Z

Andre, this is a great topic. I saw an eyegaze system demoed last year at the UPA conference by Tobii (http://www.tobii.com/corporate/start.aspx). They had some unique pricing structures that might potentially bring this technology to the masses a bit more.

That said, a number of others, particularly Jakob Nielsen, have produced articles about eyegaze results. To me, the results aren't *that* different between authors. I think that they're good to keep tabs on in case something changes, but I don't know that I'd expect to get the value out of doing one myself.

Over my years of practice, I have found good clear research questions, careful research design, a strong script and the ability to analyze my findings has given me everything I've needed without the fancy stuff (although I do admit to rigging up a way to view/record screen views for cell phone studies in my earlier days!)

@Rhys, you might want to consider incorporating the System Usability Scale (SUS) in your protocol - it's a pretty classical baseline tool. It's general, but that's ok. Check it out.

Comment from piechulla1966 (see 2nd link in the blog article) on 2008-05-12

2008-05-12T16:15:04Z

"Of course you could go DIY and set up your own low cost eye tracker, but seems like it would be even harder."

Yes, the demonstration application is still fragile. Optimal lighting conditions are critical. Many volunteers downloaded the program -- few reported success. An infrared version (based on a modified Microsoft LifeCam VX-1000) is in the pipeline. Hope this will track more stable. Stay tuned!

BTW: The professional eyetracking systems I worked with are not in the $30,000 USD range, but in the $90,000 USD range.

Best regards,
walter

Comment from Randy Pickard on 2008-08-08

2008-08-09T03:13:43Z

Eye tracking has lost some of its luster because often times it is being used by those without the familiarity to turn the results into actionable information. On the other hand, if the researcher knows their stuff, eye tracking can often provide valuable results on cognitive activity that behavioral and attitudinal research may not uncover. Unfortunately, hiring qualified eye tracking experts is probably out of reach for those with modest budgets.

Comment from Steve on 2008-08-21

2008-08-21T21:28:39Z

Its happened that eye tracking lost some of its luster because some times results are not coming correct. But Researcher sill finding the solutions that they should compete with this state of art technology which help different binoculars and latest microscope to develop.

Comment from fettr on 2008-11-17

2008-11-18T01:21:13Z

the worst lack of availability of it and familiarity with it as a research tool.video converter for mac….

Comment from Og2t on 2009-08-03

2009-08-03T08:08:33Z

Or, you can use your own webcam, providing that users will agree to "filming" ;-) http://play.blog2t.net/realtime-as3-face-and-eye-detection-with-michael-jackson/

Comment from Hank Freid on 2009-08-26

2009-08-26T07:26:56Z

Yes, It's often happens that eye tracking lost some of its feature. It may cause that we are using it wrongly or search is not come correctly.

Comment from Database System Tips on 2009-08-29

2009-08-29T09:53:29Z

I propose integrating eye-tracking hardware with video drivers in order to only concentrate on the area of the screen I'm paying attention to. Of course, there are technical limitations like refresh rates. My eyes can pan from the top of the screen to the bottom faster than my monitor draws. But that can be overcome with future development http://seosoftwareandresource.blogspot.com/.

Comment from software magazzino on 2009-08-30

2009-08-31T02:03:14Z

Of course, it’s a lot happen that eye track lost several of its features. It can reason that we are using it incorrectly or search is not come properly.

Comment from Seo Company on 2009-09-11

2009-09-12T01:15:40Z

Here we present Dual Purkinje eye-tracking on cats, which—as a non-contact method—brings a number of advantages. Along with the presented methods for calibration and for synchronization to off-the-shelf video presentation hardware, this method allows high precision experiments to be performed on cats freely viewing videos of natural scenes.

Comment from Seo Promotion on 2009-09-15

2009-09-16T04:47:34Z

Comment from Seo Promotion on 2009-09-15

2009-09-16T04:48:19Z

Comment from shirleyyang on 2009-10-29

2009-10-30T01:36:18Z

VOB to MOV Mac can easily convert video on Mac among all the popular audio and video formats including AVI, MP4, MPEG, VOB, MOV, DivX, etc.It also supports mutiple devices including iPod, iPhone, iPhone 3G, Apple TV, PSP, Xbox and so on. Moreover, VOB to MOV Mac can also act as powerful editor, which enables you to edit your video freely. Video preview and batch conversion are also supported! I like it!

Comment from shirleyyang on 2009-10-29

2009-10-30T01:50:03Z

Comment from Huna on 2009-11-03

2009-11-04T06:57:53Z

The source code isn’t released yet, but they do plan to do so. If you wanted to make your own, you could find some info at Seo in a past post of ours. We’re guessing they intend to use it with something along the lines of the laser tagging system.

Comment from Huna on 2009-11-03

2009-11-04T07:06:29Z