Hi Todd! Interesting answer;-) Was there a caveat in particular that spoke to you more? Or maybe it was the imagined magnitude of possible errors?
I don't know of a single methodology that doesn't have limitations so I feel quite at ease pointing them out when it comes to ET - as a researcher you also need to know what they are so you take them into account in your analysis. The things to determine are, given the limitations and the benefits of ET (also discussed above) towards what research goals can it contribute? There have been a few suggestions above. The other big issue that we keep running into with ET discussions is the cost of the equipment and the learning curve. It does preclude an "everyone can/should do it" approach which seems to be proned by lots of folks. I actually don't think that "everyone can" (although everyone can learn to) design research or facilitate a test or conduct a home visit or do observational fieldwork or write a screener or conduct analysis but that will be another great conversation to have on IXDA;-) Survey-monkey users and home-based recruiters unite! I especially liked the idea Jared mentioned of assistive technologies and new ET-based forms of interaction (I read there's currently an ET system out that folks with reduced motor skills can use for gaming and Second Life, will try to find it and post back.) Great discussion! Hopefully this is helping Kristen. Have a great evening! Kate ________________________________ From: Todd Zaki Warfel <[email protected]> To: Kate Caldwell <[email protected]> Cc: Jared Spool <[email protected]>; [email protected] Sent: Friday, August 21, 2009 4:55:09 PM Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Eye-Tracker software/hardware recommendations On Aug 21, 2009, at 12:14 PM, Kate Caldwell wrote: I ALWAYS explain to clients that[...] > Well, based on these disclaimers, I really don't see any value in ET at all. Instead, it leaves me wondering why I should use ET at all. I won't claim to be an ET expert, but I have used it in the past. I've never really been a big fan, as I think the leap from what is gathered to inferences that are made leaves a pretty large gap. Okay, HUGE gap, actually. It's one of those solutions looking for a problem in my book. Yeah, it looks cool, but as a researcher, I just don't see good quality research data coming out of it. Cheers! Todd Zaki Warfel Principal Design Researcher Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully. ---------------------------------- Contact Info Voice:(215) 825-7423 Email:[email protected] AIM:[email protected] Blog:http://toddwarfel.com Twitter:zakiwarfel ---------------------------------- In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not. __________________________________________________________________ Get the name you've always wanted @ymail.com or @rocketmail.com! Go to http://ca.promos.yahoo.com/jacko/ ________________________________________________________________ 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
