Low-Cost Eye-Trackers: Useful for Information Systems Research?

TL;DR

This study evaluates the suitability of low-cost eye-trackers, specifically Gazepoint GP3, for information systems research, demonstrating their potential usefulness with considerations for their accuracy and limitations.

Contribution

The paper assesses the accuracy of a low-cost eye-tracker in an empirical setting and provides open data and code to support replication and further research.

Findings

Gazepoint GP3 is suitable for information systems research with proper experimental design.

The eye-tracker's accuracy is sufficient when experimental material accounts for its limitations.

Open data and code are provided for reproducibility.

Abstract

Research investigating cognitive aspects of information systems is often dependent on detail-rich data. Eye-trackers promise to provide respective data, but the associated costs are often beyond the researchers' budget. Recently, eye-trackers have entered the market that promise eye-tracking support at a reasonable price. In this work, we explore whether such eye-trackers are of use for information systems research and explore the accuracy of a low-cost eye-tracker (Gazepoint GP3) in an empirical study. The results show that Gazepoint GP3 is well suited for respective research, given that experimental material acknowledges the limits of the eye-tracker. To foster replication and comparison of results, all data, experimental material as well as the source code developed for this study are made available online.