Investigating Differences in Experts’ and Laypersons’ Evaluation of a Scientific Conflict with Eye-Tracking and Cued-Retrospective Thinking Aloud

EasyChair Preprint 6184

Abstract

This study used eye-tracking and cued-retrospective thinking aloud to examine how laypersons, as compared to experts in the domain of nanosafety, read an online article containing conflicting scientific information and considered source information provided within the article. A sample of 21 laypersons and 20 experts was presented with a mock-up online article discussing whether nanoparticles emitted from laser printers are a potential health risk. Results showed that experts allocated more visual attention to and reflected more on source information provided in the article and attributed the scientific conflict to a greater extent to differences in sources’ competence than laypersons.

Keyphrases: cued-retrospective thinking aloud, eye tracking, scientific conflict, sourcing

@booklet{EasyChair:6184,
  author    = {Steffen Gottschling and Yvonne Kammerer and Peter Gerjets},
  title     = {Investigating Differences in Experts’ and Laypersons’ Evaluation of a Scientific Conflict with Eye-Tracking and Cued-Retrospective Thinking Aloud},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 6184},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2021}}