Understanding Decision-Making Processes via Digital Means: Evidence from an Eye Tracking Study

Abstract

Decision making is a complex process which involves multiple cognitive and linguistic abilities. Studies have shown that language does play a role in decision making; yet, not much is known about how decision making, language, and culture are intertwined. This paper presents the preliminary findings of a research investigating how English as a Second Language (ESL) undergraduates make decisions from a set of Malay and English situational questions that are embedded in Malay and English cultural elements via digital means. Sixty ESL undergraduates participated in this study. Their eye movements, as they read twelve situational questions in Malay and twelve in English, were tracked using the TOBII TX300 eye tracking machine. A retrospective interview was then conducted on one-third of the participants to qualitatively explain how they read the situational questions and answer options with the help of the playback function on the eye tracking machine. Preliminary findings obtained in digital forms such as fixation counts, fixation duration, visit counts, heat maps, and scan paths act as evidence that the eye tracking machine is a useful tool for researchers to further understand the cognitive processes involved in making decisions.