Use of Eye Tracking in Cognitive Pretests (Version 1.0)

Cognitive pretesting is generally considered to be indispensable for the successful development of new survey questions, and hence for the quality of the data obtained by the survey. Supplementing cognitive interviewing with the method of eye tracking offers the possibility to observe eye movements of respondents in real-time providing additional information about cognitive processes of respondents. Research suggests that combining both methods helps to identify additional problems with questions that would remain undetected if only one method was applied. This contribution provides an introduction to cognitive interviewing in combination with eye tracking. The following questions are addressed: What is the rationale behind combining cognitive interviewing and eye tracking? How should eye tracking be implemented into cognitive interviewing? How can eye-tracking data be used and analyzed in the context of cognitive pretesting?