Real-World Eye-Tracking in Face-to-Face and Web Modes

Eye-tracking is becoming a popular tool for understanding how different forms of asking questions influence respondents' answers. Galesic et al. 2008 have successfully shown how primacy effects can be detected through an eye-tracker that measures the time of an eye fixation at different points of a question or response scale. Until now this method has almost exclusively been used to test questions on a computer. Our article extends the application of eye-tracking to face-to-face mode with show cards (that is, paper-and-pencil interviewing, or PAPI). Unlike eye-tracking on a computer screen, tracking eye movements in different modes requires using an innovative real-world eye-tracker that enables following eye movements anywhere the respondent may look. The current article reports on using a real-world eye-tracker to measure visual attention in two modes with visual materials?web and PAPI. We discuss the potential and limitations of the technique, provide successful examples of measuring and comparing visual attention in the two modes, and conclude with suggestions for avenues that can be studied using this new tool.