The validity of using non-representative users in gaze communication research.

Date
2012-03
Authors
Istance, Howell
Vickers, Stephen
Hyrskykari, Aulikki
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
ISSN
DOI
Volume Title
Publisher
ACM
Peer reviewed
Yes
Abstract
Gaze-based interaction techniques have been investigated for the last two decades, and in many cases the evaluation of these has been based on trials with able-bodied users and conventional usability criteria, mainly speed and accuracy. The target user group of many of the gaze-based techniques investigated is, however, people with different types of physical disabilities. We present the outcomes of two studies that compare the performance of two groups of participants with a type of physical disability (one being cerebral palsy and the other muscular dystrophy) with that of a control group of able-bodied participants doing a task using a particular gaze interaction technique. One study used a task based on dwell-time selection, and the other used a task based on gaze gestures. In both studies, the groups of participants with physical disabilities performed significantly worse than the able-bodied control participants. We question the ecological validity of research into gaze interaction intended for people with physical disabilities that only uses able-bodied participants in evaluation studies without any testing using members of the target user population.
Description
Keywords
eye tracking, representative users, gaze communication, assistive input devices, physically disabled user groups
Citation
Istance, H., Vickers, S. and Hyrskykari, A. (2012) The Validity of Using Non-representative Users in Gaze Communication Research. Proceedings of the 2012 Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications; ETRA
Research Institute