Professor Grant Eckstein leads successful outreach effort with eye-tracking experiment.
From classic works of literature to classic Ford Model A vehicles, humanities scholars never face a shortage of topics to study. Model A Fords recently became the focus of a humanities experiment when Associate Professor Grant Eckstein (TESOL, Second Language Writing) conducted a public outreach project in collaboration with the Utah Valley Model A Club. The unique cross-disciplinary project offered insights about how experts view their automobiles, increased alumni interest in BYU, and led to an invitation for Eckstein to present his research findings at the 2024 National Awards Banquet for the Model A Ford Club of America.
Inspiration
Eckstein has connections with the local club chapter thanks to his father, Howard Eckstein, who serves as a national car restoration adjudicator for the Model A Ford Club of America. Howard was curious about his son’s work with eye-tracking research, and together, they formulated an experiment on ‘vehicle literacy’ that 16 people (members of the Utah Valley Model A Club plus their family and friends) took part in. Eckstein and his father initially hoped to determine if club members could distinguish between different parts and versions of similar vehicles. In the process, they also gained insight into how club members can best pass on enthusiasm for classic cars to younger generations.
Experiment and Results
Eckstein conducted the experiment at BYU’s English Language Center, making use of the eye-tracking equipment there. Participants classified themselves beforehand as either experts or nonexperts based on a self-ranking system—experts included club members who consider themselves Model A enthusiasts with extensive Model A knowledge. All experts ranked themselves at about the same level of expertise. Nonexperts included the club members’ family and friends, who self-reported as having little to no knowledge of Model A vehicles.
During the experiment, each participant viewed the same set of selected images showing different Model A parts, and they were tasked with identifying certain components of those images. For example, one question showed two images of the same engine but with a modern spark plug inserted in one image. This was accompanied by the question “Which is the goofy spark plug?” The eye-tracking equipment recorded which regions of the images drew the participants’ gazes and how long they spent looking at certain features before they gave an answer to the question.
Results indicated that the experts spent more time viewing both the correct and incorrect regions of the images, taking time to ensure they had the answer right. The nonexperts, on the other hand, spent less time in those regions. Interestingly, Eckstein found no significant difference in the reading patterns of experts vs. nonexperts, indicating that both groups processed the wording of questions at a similar level. As for participants’ degree of expertise, eye-tracking results confirmed that they had self-reported accurately before the experiment—all self-ranked experts answered at least nine out of ten questions correctly, while all self-ranked nonexperts scored below nine.
Impact
Participants expressed great excitement about the experiment. Eckstein says, “It’s just creating this buzz. Some of them are BYU alumni . . . they feel a lot of connection to BYU again that I think may have been a little bit dormant.” Model A club members, encouraged by their experience with eye-tracking at BYU, later toured the Engineering Building to find out more about that facility.
Additionally, the experiment produced insights that translate into real-world action. Many Utah Valley Model A club members desire to pass on their love of Model A vehicles to kids and grandkids, but some have had a difficult time generating interest from the younger generations—Eckstein’s experiment provided possible reasons for that, pointing to cognitive overload that can actually be seen in some of the eye-tracking results. For many of the nonexpert participants, especially the younger grandkids, results signaled that their attention to different areas of the images—shown in their traced visual patterns—was quite sporadic and confused.
To improve the learning experience, Eckstein recommended that club members start out small, teaching kids about one or two features of specific Model A parts to get them interested and then rewarding them with something fun like an ice cream outing. That way, kids would hopefully feel less overwhelmed by a subject they may not understand. Club members seemed thrilled to receive real, applicable advice as a result of their participation in the experiment.
Eckstein looks forward to sharing his results on a larger scale as a keynote speaker for the Model A Ford Club of America, and he hopes to conduct more humanities public outreach projects in the future with other groups and demographics. He says, “This project has opened my eyes to what it means to be a humanist and to do humanities research. I think it’s easy to see humanities research in a very narrow, disciplinary way . . . the more I think about it, the more I see that any field has humanities involved in it.”