Evidence of inconsistent results using current eye tracking glance and visit analysis standards

Abstract

Eye tracking glance analyses have been used to study the behavior of motor vehicle drivers for at least two decades and eye tracking is now emerging as an experimental protocol in construction research. Previous studies have identified relationships between driver glance behavior and performance, so existing motor vehicle driver glance analysis methods were applied to search for analogous relationships with construction craftworkers during a model assembly task. Eye tracking analysis software vendors have yet to adopt standardized eye tracking event detection algorithms, and researchers have historically reported insufficient details to render most eye tracking analyses reproducible. As a result, the purpose of the present work is to address the gap in knowledge in understanding the challenges encountered as a result of a lack of standardization. The methodology applied existing glance analysis methods to a study incorporating mobile eye tracking glasses, which made the experimental environment less controlled than a typical glance analysis study using a screen-based eye tracking system, such as a motor vehicle driver behavior study. A new noise filtering parameter, maximum off-stimulus fixations, was also introduced. The results show that the absence of standardized eye tracking parameters, such as minimum fixation duration, can lead to different statistical results. The study's primary contribution to the body of knowledge is that is identifies the need for standardization of eye tracking analyses to better ensure that future eye tracking studies be more consistent and reproducible.