On Aug 15, 2009, at 8:11 AM, Will Hacker wrote:
Eye-tracking is just one of many techniques, and should never be a
replacement for observation and exploration of real users'
experiences and motivations.
I hear that.
However, its cost is so much larger than the other techniques you have
to do anyways *and* it doesn't tell you anything you can't learn from
those other techniques. So, why spend the resources to get info you
have to verify with cheaper methods anyways?
Eye-tracking can be useful if you are trying to make a point with
technology management, who often are impressed by what gadgets do and
think of usability testing as "soft" science. If you have some
findings you are having difficultly communicating, eye-tracking may
be a means of "proving" it to skeptical engineers.
Maybe it's just me, but I never have this issue. I don't need to trick
anyone into believing that the little dot on the eye-tracker screen or
red splotch on the heat map means something it probably doesn't mean,
just because I say it means that.
User research, when done well, isn't a "science" at all. It's an
engineering tool. If you have to demonstrate its scientific validity
(and deal with the fact that the people you're working with perceive
it as a "soft science"), then you've already lost the game, in my
opinion.
They should understand why its valuable before you've invested any
resources in doing it. Otherwise, you're stuck making crap up to
support your point of view.
That's my opinion. It's worth what you paid for it.
Jared
Jared M. Spool
User Interface Engineering
510 Turnpike St., Suite 102, North Andover, MA 01845
e: [email protected] p: +1 978 327 5561
http://uie.com Blog: http://uie.com/brainsparks Twitter: @jmspool
________________________________________________________________
Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
To post to this list ....... [email protected]
Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
