If you don’t have an observer during a lab-based Tobii eye tracking usability test, you may be missing client impressions and insights from the participant you’re testing!

I was recently doing some eye tracking with a global banking client. The client project managers and designers were in the observation room watching the person’s eye gaze data live on the screen as the participant was doing some usability testing. It was amazing to realise that they were actually learning things that the usability interviewer was not.

The clients could see a trace of the participants eye gaze in real time. Therefore, they found the usability VERY interesting and it was blatantly obvious when a participant got confused or looked at things that were superfluous to the task at hand! The exactly way a participant’s eye move on the screen may not be completely apparent to the facilitator.

The clients added a whole heap of value to the process, and helped me to clarify my recommendations, and also make sure that I didn’t miss anything they thought was important to report on!

Because the clients are getting all these great insights, a debrief after the session is imperative!

If you don’t have an observers, or time for a debrief how can you fix this?

Use a third computer to show the participant’s gaze data live to the facilitator!

To do this you need to connect all three computers through a LAN and enable Remote Live Viewing on your eye tracker. Angle the facilitator’s screen away from the participant and your ready to go!