Using eye tracking for evaluating web search interfaces

Abstract

Using eye tracking in the evaluation of web search interfaces can provide rich information on users' information search behaviour, particularly in the matter of user interaction with different informative components on a search results screen. One of the main issues affecting the use of eye tracking in research is the quality of captured eye movements (calibration), therefore, in this paper, we propose a method that allows us to determine the quality of calibration, since the existing eye tracking system (Tobii Studio) does not provide any criteria for this aspect. Another issue addressed in this paper is the adaptation of gaze direction. We use a black screen displaying for 3 seconds between screens to avoid the effect of the previous screen on user gaze direction on the coming screen. A further issue when employing eye tracking in the evaluation of web search interfaces is the selection of the appropriate filter for the raw gaze-points data. In our studies, we filtered this data by removing noise, identifying gaze points that occur in Area of Interests (AOIs), optimising gaze data and identifying viewed AOIs.