Mobile eye tracking: Pros and Cons
Researchers identified some limitations and potentials of mobile eye tracking using a wearable eye tracker for field research at two museum exhibitions in Germany. Mobile eye tracking has become a very interesting and provoking way to look into the needs and thoughts of the consumer and has given researchers an entirely different point of view to study.
Here are the Pros and Cons for mobile eye tracking that resulted from the research:
Pros of Mobile Eye Tracking
- Mobile eye tracking (MET) puts us much closer to the mind and thoughts of the consumer. If companies know what their customers are looking for and what they care about, they can better advertise or display their products in a way that catches their customers’ attention.
- Researchers can start to understand the psychology of the decision-making process by observing how visual behavior in different situations is connected to actions people ultimately take.
- MET data can be processed and analyzed as many times as needed. Having the ability to run multiple tests or theories without having to redo tests lets researchers be more productive and able to try new things with low risk.
Cons of Mobile Eye Tracking
- MET must be used in highly controlled conditions where weather and lighting will not affect the performance of the eye tracker. This limits the situations in which mobile eye trackers can be used.
- Because of the disconnect between what people look at and what they are actually thinking, MET will most likely always rely on complementary methods, such as the think aloud protocol, to produce meaningful and proven results.
- As it stands now, MET is very costly to those who want to use it and the technology set up and data analysis is very labor intensive, even when the technology is attainable.
You can find the study’s abstract here: http://ssc.sagepub.com/content/31/1/103.abstract
In your experience, do the benefits of mobile eye tracking outweigh the challenges researchers will have to overcome while working with the devices? Are there any pros or cons you would add to the list?