On June 17, 2023, a Webinar was held in the series: "Media research: theory and practice".

At the invitation of the Forum of Young Media Scientists and Communicators, Dr. hab. Tomasz Gackowski, Prof. UW, had the pleasure of leading the webinar entitled "Biometrics in social research".

Media researchers around the world are increasingly drawing attention to certain shortcomings of classical methods from the social sciences and humanities. There is much talk about the need for their triangulation, scholars are also leaning towards modern technologies such as eyetracking, facetracking, EDA/GSR, EEG, NIRS etc.

It turns out that what a respondent feels/perceives/is reacting to is largely measurable and can be standardized. If so, modern media researchers no longer need to limit themselves to in-depth interviews, observation diaries, surveys or focus groups.

Thanks to modern technologies, they are also not limited by the so-called "declaration effect" (although the influence of the observer on the respondent can never be completely eliminated). In studies of the reception of books, newspapers, radio, television, social media, apps, games or in virtual reality (VR/AR) experiences, one may be tempted to examine what the respondent actually perceives or experiences at the moment of contact with the stimulus.

Thus, in the biometric perspective, the subject of reflection is not only what the researcher himself wants to tell us, but also the uncontrolled reactions of his body. The aforementioned issues will be presented using examples of various studies carried out at the Laboratory of Media Studies the University of Warsaw.

https://www.facebook.com/ForumMlodychMedioznawcowIKomunikologow