Methodological recommendations for webcam-based eye tracking: A scoping review

Abstract

Internet-based experiment administration has enabled remote access to diverse populations and large pools of crowdsourced participants. In recent years, webcam-based eye tracking has extended these benefits to a research paradigm historically limited to researchers with sufficient resources for access to technology. While a proliferation of eye-tracking research could reap benefits for applied linguistics and related fields, reporting standards should be modified and updated to account for not only the unique logistic flexibility offered via online administration, but also the methodological limitations of the technology, which include lower spatial/temporal sensitivity and stringent calibration requirements. To facilitate the creation of such standards, a methodological scoping review of 31 experiments published in 22 studies was conducted. Researchers were found to have adhered to psycholinguistic reporting standards for sample size and participant demographics. However, reporting of minimum inclusion criteria, specifically for minimum hardware standards, was often found to lack sufficient detail for replication and requires refinement. Furthermore, critical experiment details, such as calibration procedures, were often found to lack vital details. Based on the findings derived from this review, we present a list of methodological recommendations for implementing and reporting psycholinguistic webcam-based tracking experiments.