Kristen, I use Tobii eye trackers.
For a lab you will need: 1) Tobii Studio Professional software (or Enterprise software if you need external observation capability). 2) Eye tracking hardware. - a T60 for testing websites - a T60 XL for testing larger screen sizes, e.g. business applications - an X60 for testing really large screens. Tobii eye trackers are by far and away the worlds%u2019 easiest eye trackers to use and they work with well over 90% of the population. The software is continually being improved, and in a few months it will provide a complete lab solution, from survey capability through to automated multivariate data analysis. In terms of the ongoing discussion, I must correct a few misguided points: Misconception: It%u2019s expensive You can rent a Tobii eye tracker for a month, or even as little as a day (we are trialling this in Australia) which makes it accessible for most businesses. Misconception: It%u2019s buggy As Nick says, it is improving. Just make sure your software is kept up to date as recent software is leaps and bounds ahead of earlier versions. Misconception: You need extensive training Can you use Morae? Tobii Studio runs on the same (Camtasia) drivers as Morae, and is no harder to use. Of course, once you use it, you must analyse and interpret that data correctly. If you have the cognitive capacity to interpret usability testing results then you will be able to interpret eye tracking data. After all, it%u2019s all research and relates to the justification of your claims. Jared, don%u2019t forget engineering is science too. I wouldn%u2019t want someone who doesn%u2019t understand the scientific method to do any usability testing for me. Misconception: Eye tracking is compelling, but so what? If the techies like it, great! It%u2019s better to have them on your side that not! Eye tracking is also a fantastic way of making usability observation more interesting. If you can see someone%u2019s eye gaze moving around on a site in real time it allows you (the observer) and your client(s) to draw so many more insights from what is being seen during testing. Misconception: Eye tracking is THE answer: Eye tracking is to usability testing, what card sorting is to Information Architecture. You don%u2019t always have the time, money or need to do it but it does provide a greater level of insight if you can incorporate it into your study. Misconception: The Think Aloud method produces the same insight that you would get from an eye tracking study. This is just not true. The Think Aloud method is very distracting to the participant. A persons%u2019 cognitive effort is split between talking to an irritating experimenter and doing a complex task. It is quite stressful for the test participant. People are generally not good at describing what they are doing, or expressing how they feel. Immediately following a Tobii eye tracking test you can replay a movie which accurately shows where the participant looked. This triggers their memory of what they did and they can then talk to you about their experience, at their own pace. This part of the process is absolutely critical, as knowing where people looked is not enough to tell you why they looked there. In summary, eye tracking is a very useful tool if the tests are set up in the right way and the data analysed insightfully. Part of the problem with eye tracking studies is that so many of the published or blogged results are misinterpreted and invalid, as there was little thought or consideration behind how the test was set up, what was reported or what it really meant. We can only hope that in the future more usability researchers are exposed to fantastic tools such as Tobii Studio software and that they have the scientific research skills to interpret the data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=44684 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
