Eye Tracking Studies in User Interface Testing

There are certain types of usability testing issues that can only be understood by knowing where users have looked. Consider a situation where a user dwells on a particular task without making the appropriate response. Perhaps they failed to spot the particular element or could it be that another element distracted them? Eye tracking in usability testing provides input into understanding what's working and what isn't.

It is important to know what the problem was as this will clearly have a bearing on the direction of design. For example, if the user failed to spot the element, it could be made more salient. Similarly, if the user was distracted by other elements, they could be made less salient. If there was confusion over the method of control, it might be appropriate to make changes to the graphic or text. By analyzing the user's eye movements in our usability test we have access to a whole new suite of information that will help to address these issues.

To this end, we are pleased to include our unique EyeTracking service that is ideally suited to rapidly testing website designs. When testing how users interact with visual interfaces it is essential to know how they process the visual information. EyeTracking offers this insight into user behaviour, effectively allowing us to see 'through their eyes'.

Benefits to Our Usability Testing Process

Tracking eye movement in our user testing allows our clients to see for the first time where representative users are actually looking on any interface. Eye Tracking records the actual movement of the user's eye on the screen and captures all key strokes and mouse movements to build a composite profile of visual activity. The number of representative users in any Eye Tracking study can be tailored to the statistical coverage required for the usability testing and the project objectives. We recommend a minimal of six participants per test.

Utilizing this technique, you can immediately see where a user concentrated. The eye tracking data gives an insight into user behavior that is unavailable to other techniques. For example:

• what attracts a user's attention initially
• what distracts or confuses them
• where they spend their time looking
• are there 'dead zones'?
• are users noticing news, branding or promotions?
• are they having difficulty interacting with online forms?

The system also records every mouse and keyboard event. So if a user were to scroll up or down a web page or click through to levels deeper in the site that would be recorded. Storing these mouse & keyboard responses allows us to directly test in a quantitative way. For example, between the different concepts or prototypes you want to compare to see which navigation banner suits your project goals. We can test users to see how quickly and accurately they find information, how long they spend looking at different elements or regions or how they respond to particular elements and graphics. We also measure pupil dilation, which is an indicator of interest / arousal.

Deliverables

• 3-D Graphics that depict the levels of visual activity for different areas of interest. These will reflect the average activity for all participants (one graphic per page).
• Sample AVI recordings that highlight any issues arising from the tasks.
• A summary report comprising a breakdown and discussion of the results. This will include an analysis of the time taken to reach goals, characteristics of the eye movement and response data along with the identification of any usability issues

Activities

Major activities in a usability test with eye tracking include:

1. Prepare Test Plan
2. Conduct Eye Tracking
3. Present Report



1. Prepare Test Plan

Confirm schedule of activities, establish key tasks to be tested and recruit evaluators. Recruit and schedule usability test participants. Set up testing lab and undertake evaluation with the desired number of participants. Each test session tends to last approximately 1 hour.

2. Conduct Eye-Tracking

Comparison of Current Designs

The aim of this technique is to employ EyeTracking to test how users interact with your site or application design. Each user performs several tasks determined beforehand.

3. Present Report

Present executive summary, supporting results and graphic.

Eye tracking is an important aspect of usability testing, part of Interpix's complete suite of services in usability consulting