Seven steps to evaluate usability through eye movement tracking with eye tracking technology

Sandra Milena Roa-Martínez, Professor of the Systems Department and leader of the Computational Intelligence Research Group (GICO) at Universidad del Cauca, Popayán, Cauca, Colombia

Silvana Aparecida Borsetti Gregorio Vidotti, Professor at the Department and Graduate Program in Information Science and leader of the Research Group – New Technologies in Information (GPnti) at Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Marília, SP, Brazil

Researchers from Universidad del Cauca and Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) developed a procedure for evaluating aspects of usability in digital informational environments, through eye movement tracking, using eye tracking technology. The article recently published in TransInformação Journal (v. 32), aims to guide investigations and development of environments using this technology.

As a result of the research, a set of seven steps, which constitute the proposal of this procedure, is presented in order to guide future investigations in order to determine, for example, aspects of the efficiency of the search, of the interface and of the information visibility in digital information environments, especially the web.

This research was carried out at the Unesp Multimedia Development and Application Laboratory from Marília Campus, in collaboration with the Research Group: New Technologies in Information. Such as procedure can be applied in investigations about Information Architecture, User Experience and Information Findability. The authors point out: “[…] during the analysis, design and creation of digital informational environments, it is important to take into account, in addition to usability, accessibility and findability (ability to find), given that the environment is not only the content and structure, but also the user experience […]” (ROA-MARTÍNEZ; VIDOTTI, p. 12).

This descriptive research details a bibliographic review of metrics that allow measuring aspects of usability using eye tracking technology, as well as other theoretical and procedural elements. The prospective approach enables proposing a set of steps of usability evaluation procedure with the use of eye tracking, which can be used in an interdisciplinary spectrum of Information Science and Computer Science, among other areas of knowledge that aim to analyze the behavior of the user through his/her eye movement.

The mapping of the eye focus was implemented by using eye tracker: “The device that allows to track and record the eye movement of an individual user, by using emission of infrared rays and a camera. The eye focus is identified through calculations made by the software that accompanies the eye tracking systems.” (VIDOTTI et al., 2016, p. 186).

In this research, 27 metrics were listed for the analysis of the data provided by the eye tracking technology, and each one of these aspects were associated with usability and how to evaluate them.

The authors conclude that “[…]additionally to eye tracking technology, it is necessary to combine this methodology with other methods that evaluate usability, in order to guarantee a better verification of the results and get more information from a digital information environment with respect to the estimation of its usability aspects” (ROA-MARTÍNEZ; VIDOTTI, p. 12).

The research was carried out with the financial support of Universidad del Cauca and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

References

VIDOTTI, S.A.B.G., et al. Arquitetura da informação e eye tracking: o que o olhar e os dados revelam. Informação & Tecnologia [online]. 2016, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 181-202, ISSN: 2358-3908 [viewed 07 March 2020]. DOI: 10.22478/ufpb.1981-0695.2018v13n2.42941. Available from: https://periodicos.ufpb.br/ojs/index.php/itec/article/view/38646

To read the article, access

ROA-MARTÍNEZ, S.M. and VIDOTTI, S.A.B.G. Eye tracking y usabilidad en ambientes informacionales digitales: revisión teórica y propuesta de procedimiento de evaluación. Transinformação [online]. 2020, vol. 32, e190067, ISSN: 0103-3786 [viewed 07 March 2020]. DOI: 10.1590/1678-9865202032e190067. Avaiable from: http://ref.scielo.org/gqfbcc

External links

Transinformação – TINF: www.scielo.br/tinf/

Grupo de Investigación en Inteligencia Computacional (GICO): https://www.unicauca.edu.co/gico/

Grupo de Pesquisa – Novas Tecnologias em Informação (GPnti): http://dgp.cnpq.br/dgp/espelhogrupo/20900