Trinity Student Uses Eye-Tracking Technology To Study Accounting Decisions

Ann Baumann '27 and Julie Persellin, Ph.D., leaned in, asking questions and filling their notebooks as Jane Childers, Ph.D., demonstrated eye-tracking technology she uses in her psychology research at Trinity University.

Baumann and Persellin, chair of Trinity's accounting department, began considering how the same technology might help answer a very different question: How do different intents and experience levels impact the ways people read financial statements?

That question launched a summer research pilot connecting accounting, finance, psychology, and behavioral decision-making.

Building the Study

Baumann came to Trinity seeking the flexibility of a liberal arts education. She wanted the freedom to explore possible majors while continuing to participate in music, sing in the choir, and eventually study abroad. That flexibility led her to major in accounting and finance without requiring her to leave her other interests behind.

Baumann pursued summer research partly because she is considering graduate school and a future teaching at the college level. Before deciding to pursue a doctorate, she wanted firsthand experience in academic research.

Baumann first worked with Persellin as a student in an accounting course, then approached her about collaborating on a summer project. The eye-tracking demonstration gave them a question and a new tool for exploring it.

They began by learning the equipment and developing the experiment from the ground up. Baumann had to learn how to build a valid experiment, and as she became more comfortable with the technology, she focused less on the mechanics and more on how it could answer their research question.

"That shift from learning the technology to thinking like a researcher really moved the project forward," Persellin said.

For the pilot, Baumann recruited Trinity students majoring in accounting or finance. Participants reviewed a fictional company's financial statements while the technology recorded how long they focused on quantitative and qualitative information, the order in which they examined it, and which sections drew their attention. Participants then evaluated the company's risk, value, and investment potential.

Baumann presented preliminary observations at Trinity's Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium that suggest most participants spent more time reviewing revenue information and generally became less inclined to invest. The pilot also suggested that what participants remembered reading did not always align with what they appeared to process. Some were unsure whether they had reviewed management's discussion and analysis, even though they answered a verification question about the section correctly.

"Rather than simply asking people what influenced their decisions, eye tracking allowed us to observe where attention is directed and how information was being processed," Persellin said.

The interdisciplinary nature of the project changed how Baumann viewed her major.

"Accounting is not all cut and dry," she said. "There are still many things to be changed, and those parts of accounting have an impact on decisions."

Persellin hopes the findings from the pilot can support broader research into how people process financial disclosures, audit reports, fraud risk, sustainability reporting, and AI-generated financial communications.

For Baumann, helping build that foundation offered a first look at how one research question can lead to many others. She also hopes the pilot will eventually lead to a published paper.

Research as Another Classroom

The summer gave Baumann the firsthand research experience she had been seeking and strengthened her interest in teaching at a college level.

"I like teaching, working with others, and solving problems in this way," Baumann said. "Now that I know what research is like, this idea is even more cemented in my mind."

Baumann once imagined academic research as a largely individual pursuit. Working alongside Persellin showed her how collaborative the process can be.

"In a classroom, students are often learning established knowledge," Persellin said. "In research, we are learning together."

For Baumann, the most lasting part of the summer will not be the technology alone.

"Working with the software and building our project is cool, but getting to work directly with such an accomplished professional that I look up to is unmatched," she said.