DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17798532
title: Synchronized eye-tracking, observational, and questionnaire dataset on visitor engagement in a museum environment

description: The dataset presents synchronized multi-modal data exploring visitor spatial perception and engagement, collected in situ at a thematic technological museum, the Environment Museum of Stymphalia in Greece. It was generated as part of doctoral research at the Department of Architecture of the University of Patras.

The study employs a tripartite methodological framework for robust, evidence-based analysis: (1) wearable eye-tracking using Tobii Pro Glasses 3 at sampling rates of 50 Hz and 100 Hz across two devices, and processed using Tobii Pro Lab (version 1.207.4484) to document eye movements, (2) systematic behavioral observation conducted by two GoPro Hero 3+ cameras to record participant movement and interactions, and (3) post-visit questionnaires to capture subjective perceptions and demographics. The research protocol received formal approval from the Research Ethics and Deontology Committee of the University of Patras (protocol number 15765) prior to data collection. All participants provided verbal informed consent after a briefing on the research process, a procedure approved for this fully anonymized study, waiving the requirement for individual publication consent.

The multi-modal dataset integrates streams from 50 participants, representing over 24 hours of total visit time. It is structured in the following complementary files: 



01_Eye-Tracking Data.xlsx contains raw gaze metrics, including AOI-based and interval-based data for each participant, organized by museum subunits, areas of interest and individual exhibits. 

02_Eye-Tracking Codebook.docx documents the extracted gaze metrics with their definitions and units.

03_Observational Data.xlsx consists of raw time-logged data on participant visit durations within each distinct museum subunit, enabling precise synchronization with eye-tracking recordings.

04_Questionnaire Data.xlsx features raw survey responses, comprising coded open-ended questions (n=2), closed-ended questions (n=9), Likert-scale ratings (n=14) and demographic items (n=6).

05_Questionnaire Codebook.docx provides details and coding information for all survey questions and response options in the Questionnaire Data file. 


This dataset supports interdisciplinary research in design studies, environmental psychology, and museology, enriching investigations into human-environment interaction, evidence-based design, and spatial user experience. 

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the collaboration with the Environment Museum of Stymphalia, operating under the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation, for granting research access and facilitating in-situ data collection for the research. Technical equipment, including eye-tracker units and analysis software, was provided by the Ubiquitous and Mobile Computing, Quality and Ambient Intelligence Laboratory at the Hellenic Open University and by NetScope Solutions (Konstantinos Tzelepis). Camera resources were supplied by the CoDesign Lab at Örebro University (Vasiliki Kondyli), while infrastructural support was delivered by Tobii Pro. The participation of all volunteers is gratefully acknowledged.