ArticleBehavior research methods2025
The fundamentals of eye tracking part 5: The importance of piloting.
Article in Behavior research methods, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- The fundamentals of eye tracking, Part 7: Determining data quality.Behavior research methods · 2026Article
- The fundamentals of eye tracking part 6: Working with areas of interest.Behavior research methods · 2026Article
- Applying mobile eye tracking to measure real-time engagement and enhance informal learning at environmental exhibits.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The goal of this article is to demonstrate the importance of pilot studies in empirical eye-tracking research. First, we show what can go wrong when proper pilot experiments are omitted for all phases of an eye-tracking study, from testing an experiment, conducting the data collection, to building, revising, and interpreting the data analysis. Second, we describe a series of eye-tracking studies as a case study, and elaborate on all the pilot experiments that were conducted. We highlight what was learned from each pilot experiment when conceiving, designing, and conducting the research. Finally, we give practical advice for eye-tracking researchers on planning and conducting pilot experiments. This advice can be summarized as (1) take enough time, (2) be problem-oriented, (3) pilots are of an iterative nature, (4) many questions are empirical, and (5) apply the four-eyes principle. We envision that the present article helps early career researchers discover, and more established researchers rediscover, the utility of pilot experiments.
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Registered trials
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