Читать книгу Eye Tracking the User Experience - Aga Bojko - Страница 16

There are two main applications for eye tracking: as a research technique and an input device. As an input device, eye movements become control signals for a computer system, either instead of or in addition to a mouse and keyboard. People with disabilities such as ALS and cerebral palsy use gaze-controlled applications to help them communicate. Gaze interaction is also used in entertainment (for example, gaming) and is making its way into mainstream mobile applications.

The rest of this book focuses on how eye tracking can be applied to research, specifically UX research—an investigation of how people experience products, interfaces, services, or even their surroundings. UX research can be divided along two dimensions: the target of the research and the scope of the research (see Table 1.1). This breakdown results in four categories: Engineering Psychology Research, Design Research, User Research, and Design Evaluation. Eye tracking can be used in all four types of research, but this book is primarily about eye tracking for formative (or diagnostic) and summative design evaluation (the shaded bottom-right quadrant of the table).

TABLE 1.1 BREAKDOWN OF UX RESEARCH

Target of the Research
Scope of the Research
	Users	Design
Generalizable across products	Engineering Psychology Research	Design Research
(theory-driven and often academic)	Goal: To understand the capabilities and limitations of human perception, cognition, and movement control. Sample research questions: What is the effect of noise on human performance? What factors impact how well people can switch between different tasks? How do visual scan strategies of expert pilots differ from those of novice pilots?	Goal: To understand how design types or elements impact the user experience. Sample research questions: Which layout for an online form is most efficient? How do people view search results pages? Do icon labels improve user performance?
Productspecific (atheoretical and doesn’t generalize beyond one product)	User Research Goal: To learn more about the needs, preferences, motivations, and processes of the users or potential users of a particular product. Sample research questions: What are the current practices and preferences of patients learning to use a selfinjection device? Why do users of a particular mobile phone go to the customer support website and does the site meet their needs?	Design Evaluation Goal: To evaluate a particular product based on the user experience it creates. Sample research questions: How can this product be improved to provide a better user experience? (formative research) How does the new interface compare to the old one? (summative research)