Identifying usability issues via algorithmic detection of excessive visual search

  • Authors:
  • Corey Holland;Oleg Komogortsev;Dan Tamir

  • Affiliations:
  • Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas, United States;Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas, United States;Texas State University - San Marcos, San Marcos, Texas, United States

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • Year:
  • 2012

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Abstract

Automated detection of excessive visual search (ES) experienced by a user during software use presents the potential for substantial improvement in the efficiency of supervised usability analysis. This paper presents an objective evaluation of several methods for the automated segmentation and classification of ES intervals from an eye movement recording, a technique that can be utilized to aid in the identification of usability problems during software usability testing. Techniques considered for automated segmentation of the eye movement recording into unique intervals include mouse/keyboard events and eye movement scanpaths. ES is identified by a number of eye movement metrics, including: fixation count, saccade amplitude, convex hull area, scanpath inflections, scanpath length, and scanpath duration. The ES intervals identified by each algorithm are compared to those produced by manual classification to verify the accuracy, precision, and performance of each algorithm. The results indicate that automated classification can be successfully employed to substantially reduce the amount of recorded data reviewed by HCI experts during usability testing, with relatively little loss in accuracy.