Bachelor / Master Thesis Project / Hiwi Position: From Physical to Virtual: How Typing Changes Across Input Modalities and Age Groups

Description:

Typing has transformed over the past decades from mechanical and physical keyboards to touchscreen-based virtual keyboards on mobile devices. Although typing remains a fundamental interaction technique, motor behavior, visual attention, cognitive load, and error patterns may differ substantially between physical and virtual input environments. These differences may also vary across age groups, as “digital natives” who grew up with touchscreens often exhibit different typing strategies and speed–accuracy trade-offs compared to “digital immigrants” trained primarily on physical keyboards.

The goal of this project is to systematically investigate the differences between typing on physical keyboards and typing on touchscreen devices. The project involves designing controlled typing tasks and collecting behavioral data such as keystroke logs, timing information, and optionally eye-tracking data. The findings will contribute to a better understanding of how interaction shifts from physical to virtual environments and how age and technological background shape typing behavior. The results may inform the design of future input systems, adaptive keyboards, and age-sensitive user interfaces.

Requirements:

• Very good programming skills (Web-based, Python)
• Experience or strong interest in conducting empirical user studies and data analysis

References:

• https://doi.org/10.1145/2858036.2858233
• https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376711
• https://doi.org/10.1145/3338286.3340120

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Anna Maria Feit: feit@cs.uni-saarland.de

Yang Li: yang.li@uni-saarland.de