For several years, the software engineering research community used eye trackers to study program comprehension, bug localization, pair programming, and other software engineering tasks. Eye trackers provide researchers with insights on software engineers’ cognitive processes, data that can augment those acquired through other means, such as on-line surveys and questionnaires. While there are many ways to take advantage of eye trackers, advancing their use requires defining standards for experimental design, execution, and reporting. We begin by presenting the foundations of eye tracking to provide context and perspective. Based on previous surveys of eye tracking for programming and software engineering tasks and our collective, extensive experience with eye trackers, we discuss when and why researchers should use eye trackers as well as how they should use them. We compile a list of typical use cases—real and anticipated—of eye trackers, as well as metrics, visualizations, and statistical analyses to analyze and report eye-tracking data. We also discuss the pragmatics of eye tracking studies. Finally, we offer lessons learned about using eye trackers to study software engineering tasks. This paper is intended to be a one-stop resource for researchers interested in designing, executing, and reporting eye tracking studies of software engineering tasks.

中文翻译：

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在软件工程中进行眼动追踪研究的实用指南

几年来，软件工程研究社区使用眼动仪来研究程序理解、错误定位、结对编程和其他软件工程任务。眼动仪为研究人员提供了有关软件工程师认知过程的见解，这些数据可以增强通过其他方式（例如在线调查和问卷）获得的数据。虽然有很多方法可以利用眼动仪，但要推进其使用需要定义实验设计、执行和报告的标准。我们首先介绍眼动追踪的基础，以提供上下文和视角。根据之前针对编程和软件工程任务的眼动追踪调查以及我们在眼动追踪方面的广泛经验，我们讨论了研究人员何时以及为什么应该使用眼动仪以及他们应该如何使用它们。我们编制了一份眼动仪的典型用例（真实的和预期的）列表，以及用于分析和报告眼动追踪数据的指标、可视化和统计分析。我们还讨论了眼动追踪研究的语用学。最后，我们提供有关使用眼动仪研究软件工程任务的经验教训。本文旨在成为对设计、执行和报告软件工程任务的眼动追踪研究感兴趣的研究人员的一站式资源。我们提供有关使用眼动仪研究软件工程任务的经验教训。本文旨在成为对设计、执行和报告软件工程任务的眼动追踪研究感兴趣的研究人员的一站式资源。我们提供有关使用眼动仪研究软件工程任务的经验教训。本文旨在成为对设计、执行和报告软件工程任务的眼动追踪研究感兴趣的研究人员的一站式资源。