Conducting eye tracking studies in interactive information retrieval

Abstract

This report seeks to contextualize the field of Interactive Information Retrieval (IIR) in the broader context of Information Retrieval (IR), and the psychological aspects of the human visual system. In this report, I present to the readers a concise background of the fields of IIR, and IR, and experiment design in eye tracking research. After the background and literature review on IIR, I provide the readers a brief tour of the concepts behind eye tracking technology. Finally, I describe the stimulus presentation and control software called EventIDE, which offers numerous capabilities for conducting behavioral research. In particular, I focus on eye tracking, and continuing with the theme of deploying eye tracking to conduct IIR research take the readers through a sample experiment in EventIDE. At the end I analyze specific outcomes of the sample experiment to demonstrate how eye tracking can be used to collect data about users’ interaction with the layout and presentation of information on modern digital interfaces.