An interactional “live eye tracking” study in autism spectrum disorder: combining qualitative and quantitative approaches in the study of gaze

ABSTRACT

Recent studies on gaze behaviours in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have utilised “live eye tracking.” Such research has focused on generating quantitative eye tracking measurements, which provide limited (if any) qualitative contextual details of the actual interactions in which gaze occurs. This article presents a novel methodological approach that combines live eye tracking with qualitative interaction analysis, multimodally informed conversation analysis. Drawing on eye tracking and wide-angle video recordings, this combination renders visible some of the functions, or what gaze “does,” in interactional situations. The participants include three children with ASD and their adult co-participants during body-movement gaming sessions. The article demonstrates how quantitative eye tracking research can be extended qualitatively using a microanalytic interaction analysis to recontextualise the gaze shifts identified. The findings in this article show that the co-participants treat a child’s gaze shifts differently depending on when these occur in a stream of other action. The study suggests that introducing this qualitative dimension to eye tracking research could increase its ecological validity and offer new insight into gaze behaviours in ASD.

KEYWORDS:

• Autism spectrum disorder
• conversation analysis
• functions of gaze
• gaze shifts
• live eye tracking

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the research participants. They also thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor of this journal, Qualitative Research in Psychology, as well as Vesa Korhonen for assisting in the eye tracking data collection.

Notes

¹ 1-point calibration was chosen for quick calibration; initial attempts showed that a 3-point calibration procedure was slow and challenging for the participating children.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Academy of Finland (grant number 140450). Katja Dindar was also supported by the Alfred Kordelin Foundation and the Olvi Foundation.

Notes on contributors

Katja Dindar

Katja Dindar is currently working toward her PhD in psychology at the University of Eastern Finland. Her thesis focuses on interactional and attentional skills of children with ASD during educational interactions with adult co-participants. In her work, she uses multimodally informed CA to examine video recordings and live eye tracking data.

Terhi Korkiakangas

Terhi Korkiakangas is a social interaction researcher. Her research interests include the use of talk, gaze and body movement in clinical and professional interactions and in interactions involving children with ASD. She played a key role in an ESRC-funded project on teamwork in operating theatres (2012–2013) and was a research fellow in MODE, a node of the ESRC’s National Centre for Research Methods (2013–2014). She is currently a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow (2014–2017), conducting video-based research on communication in operating theatres. Her PhD research examined interactions involving children with ASD using a multimodal approach to CA.

Aarno Laitila

Aarno Laitila currently works as a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Jyväskylä. His main area of research is the field of psychotherapy, especially in the context of family therapy, and developing therapeutic expertise.

Eija Kärnä

Eija Kärnä works as a professor in special education at the University of Eastern Finland. She has worked in several international research and development projects and conducted multidisciplinary research with researchers from several fields of science, such as linguistics, psychology, nursing science, and computer science. Her research interests are inclusive learning environments, technology for individuals with special needs, and communication and interaction of individuals with severe developmental disabilities and ASD.