Ecological validity of retrospective reflections in eye tracking

Teacher professional vision consists of two aspects, noticing and interpretation, and it can be investigated comprehensively by combining eye tracking and teacher reflection. Several studies have acknowledged the importance of authenticity in educational eye tracking research, but have not defined what is meant by this goal. When participant interviews are added into eye-tracking research, ensuring ecological validity becomes even more complex. This methodological paper investigates how the aim of ecological validity is understood in gaze-simulated retrospective recall research with teacher participants, and how this contributes to the theory of professional vision. Two research settings investigating Finnish mathematics and higher education teachers are used to investigate methodological and theoretical reflections. This is a reflective methodological study. Data from the two research settings was revisited, and conclusions from the studies of both authors were reviewed. The two studies approached the concept of ecological validity from different angles: the ecological validity of cues, and the ecological validity of the research setting. The authentic teaching context enables teacher reflections of their detailed noticing and not-noticing behaviors. Using gaze-stimulated retrospective recall as a part of teacher training adds to the ecological validity though the safety and familiarity between the researchers and participants. Approaching ecological validity in research combining eye tracking and gaze-stimulated retrospective reflections is complex. It can emerge through different practices depending on the aims of the research and requires careful attention from the researchers. • Gaze-stimulated reflections vary in assessing one's own versus others' teaching. • Teachers require assistance and training for gaze-based reflection. • Researcher decisions regarding authenticity impact the obtained results. • Authentic cues or setting do not solely guarantee ecological validity.