Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Eye-Tracking Study
In eye-tracking literature, the question whether the fixation duration can be
interpreted in a way that longer fixation durations mean more intense information
processing is not answered yet. Holmqvist et al. (
2011
), Holˆ´nov´ (
2008
) and
Irwin (
2004
) discuss different aspects of the parameter fixation duration. For the
interpretation of the gaze data, the participants in this study were also asked to give
reasons for their answering behaviour. The interpretation of all results is a mix of
qualitative impressions formulated by the respondents themselves and objective
quantitative gaze data.
Comparing the average fixation duration in the case study with the correctness of
answers (see Fig.
2
), no significant relationship can be found. Respondents with a
high amount of correct answers can have a small average fixation duration just as
well as a high one.
Within the eye-tracking study, decision makers were asked to execute basic
spatial operations (e.g., comparing districts, finding min and max values, getting an
idea of spatial repartition of a phenomenon) with the help of the local budget maps.
Within the pie chart map (which can be seen in Fig.
1
on the upper left side),
respondents were asked to search for the maximum value of investment. They were
able to manage this task in a very effective way within the presented map; the
interpretation of the gaze maps show that most of the respondents just compared the
two biggest dots in the map. It was not necessary to have intense fixations at the
Fig. 2 Relationship between average fixation duration and the correctness of answers
