Eye movement recordings in natural settings

In this chapter we consider why it is important to study eye movements in natural, real world settings and the practical considerations that need to be considered when collecting eye movement data in these situations. We discuss three key stages of conducting real world eye tracking studies. (1) Planning real world studies. Conducting a study in a real world environment poses very different challenges than those present in laboratory- based settings. Variables are hard to control and this necessarily restricts the kinds of paradigms that can be employed. Thus careful consideration of the research question and whether it is appropriate for real world study is a necessary first step. (2) Ensuring high quality data collection in real world settings. When collecting real world eye tracking data, care must be taken to ensure that the data are of sufficient quality to address the research question. While the principles of eye tracking - how we detect features of the eye and use these to estimate where someone is looking - are very similar between laboratory-based and mobile eye trackers, the challenges faced when collecting data in natural settings are far greater than those that face eye trackers in a controlled laboratory setting. In this chapter we consider the threats that real world settings pose for eye tracking data. (3) Extracting and analysing the collected data. We provide some discussion of the types of measures that can be extracted from eye tracking data collected in real world settings.