When you see a heatmap for the first time, you are probably so busy saying “wow!” that you forget to critically evaluate what you are seeing. It’s easy to feel intimidated. The technology involved is phenomenal. But this doesn’t mean all research done on an eye tracker is infallible – far from it. This talk is intended to give you a heads-up on how to think critically about eye tracking.
Huge thanks to Bunnyfoot for providing all the eye tracking heatmaps used in this talk. This talk was given at UXLX'10 in Lisbon.
Blog: http://90percentofeverything.com
Company: http://madgex.com
7. s He patented the pedoscope and licensed it to shoe shops In popular use from 1920-1960!
8. s He patented the pedoscope and licensed it to shoe shops In popular use from 1920-1960!
9. Reveals the invisible Exciting for clients Visually compelling Differentiated the owners as ‘experts’ Generates sales …but completely unnecessary for fitting shoes!
11. The Tobii T120 Eye tracker Cost: ≈ €28,000 Anyone can buy one Minutes to learn to operate Years to become an expert Image credit: Tobii.com
12. The Tobii T120 Eye tracker Cost: ≈ €28,000 Anyone can buy one Minutes to learn to operate Years to become an expert Reveals the invisible Exciting for clients Visually compelling Differentiates owners as ‘experts’ Generates sales Image credit: Tobii.com
13. The Tobii T120 Eye tracker Cost: ≈ €28,000 Anyone can buy one Minutes to learn to operate Years to become an expert Reveals the invisible Exciting for clients Visually compelling Differentiates owners as ‘experts’ Generates sales Just like the pedoscope, Eye Tracking can be misused by novices for trivial things Image credit: Tobii.com
21. When you have a simple goal e.g. “Do users notice branding within 5s?” Eyes forward Eyes left
22. When you have a simple goal e.g. “Do users notice branding within 5s?” Eyes forward Eyes left
23. If only web design were this simple! Web pages serve many different functions - for many different people- doing different things- in their own chosen ways.
35. Hey, that cloud looks like a rabbit! In other words: looking for patterns and attributing a rationale. This is like any qualitative research - but ET is particularly prone because it is visually abstract and easy to misunderstand.
36. In an quantitative, empirical ET study you demarcate “Areas Of Interest” (AOIs) like this: Then you usestatistics to find out whether people fixated on one face more than the other and whether the difference in “heat” is down to chance alone!
39. The user’s goal has a huge impact on eye tracking patterns! Task: count the columns Task: count the people
40. Example This heat map is based on aggregated data from 54 participants during the first 30 seconds. The report states “all boxes both on the right and the left side of the page are practically ignored” But what was the task given? Without knowing, this heatmap is meaningless! http://bit.ly/tobii-realeyes
42. Perhaps you now understand why some don’t like ET! “One of these days, I’m going to make a ‘Just Say No to Eye Trackers’ t-shirt.” “How about a Ouija Board? They run about 1/3000 the price and produce just as good predictions of what works and what doesn’t.” Jared Spool (2009)
43. ET advocates have been slow to respond to these criticisms There’s a fissure growing between advocates and opponents
44. The killer question: Is ET any more effective at improving design than conventional methods like think-aloud?
45. We just don’t know! Where are the flagship case studies? ROI Examples? Findings that could not have been uncovered through other means?
46. Quite an inconclusive conclusion – but that’s the current state of the industry, folks!
47. Huge Thanks to Aaron Young & Rebecca Gill of Bunnyfoot James Breeze of Objective Digital Harry Brignull twitter.com/harrybr 90percentofeverything.com
Editor's Notes
The purpose of this talk is to tell you just enough about eye tracking so that next time your sitting through a presentation from a consultant, instead of sitting there in awe, you know what questions to ask and you’re able to critically evaluate whether the design implications are valid and worth paying attention to.
I’m Harry BrignullI’m a user experience consultantThis is my blog: 90percentofeverything.comThis is the company I work for: Madgex.comWe make digital recruitment websites.You may not have heard of us because our software is whitelabel – our clients rebadge it with their own brandingHowever it’s possible you’ve used our sites without realizing. We power about 150 job boards In Europe, catering for about 2 million job-seekers per weekAs the UX lead at Madgex, I’m the person who’s responsible for making sure that they’re happy and satisfied.
Eye tracking is probably the most MISUNDERSTOOD and ABUSED research methods in the field of user experience.The purpose of this talk is to give you a heads up, so you don’t get taken in.
Eye tracking is probably the most MISUNDERSTOOD and ABUSED research methods in the field of user experience.The purpose of this talk is to give you a heads up, so you don’t get taken in.
Eye tracking is probably the most MISUNDERSTOOD and ABUSED research methods in the field of user experience.The purpose of this talk is to give you a heads up, so you don’t get taken in.
Eye tracking is probably the most MISUNDERSTOOD and ABUSED research methods in the field of user experience.The purpose of this talk is to give you a heads up, so you don’t get taken in.
Our eyes move around in a combination of saccades and fixation.We don’t realise it but our eyes are continuously flicking from one place to another within our field of vision. These rapid movements are called saccades. Fixations occur when eye settles on something for 200 ms. (definitions of exact duration vary).
Image credit: Richard Carlsonhttp://www.pals.iastate.edu/carlson
Image credit: Richard Carlsonhttp://www.pals.iastate.edu/carlson
Image credit: Richard Carlsonhttp://www.pals.iastate.edu/carlson
Jared Spool Ouija Board Quote: http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss@lists.interactiondesigners.com/msg16874.html