Academic reading format preferences and behaviors among university students worldwide: A comparative survey analysis

Abstract

This study reports the descriptive and inferential statistical findings of a survey of academic reading format preferences and behaviors of 10,293 tertiary students worldwide. The study hypothesized that country-based differences in schooling systems, socioeconomic development, culture or other factors might have an influence on preferred formats, print or electronic, for academic reading, as well as the learning engagement behaviors of students. The main findings are that country of origin has little to no relationship with or effect on reading format preferences of university students, and that the broad majority of students worldwide prefer to read academic course materials in print. The majority of participants report better focus and retention of information presented in print formats, and more frequently prefer print for longer texts. Additional demographic and post-hoc analysis suggests that format preference has a small relationship with academic rank. The relationship between task demands, format preferences and reading comprehension are discussed. Additional outcomes and implications for the fields of education, psychology, computer science, information science and human-computer interaction are considered.

Comparing Comprehension of a Long Text Read in Print Book and on Kindle: Where in the Text and When in the Story?

“…In a similar vein, a systematic literature review of empirical research (Singer and Alexander, 2017b) found that when participants were reading texts for depth of understanding and not solely for gist, print was the more effective processing medium. Moreover, with respect to reader preferences and habits, a recent large international survey (Mizrachi et al, 2018) with more than 10,000 participants found that, for academic reading, a broad majority reported a preference for print, especially when reading longer texts. Interestingly, participants reported that they felt they remembered the material better and were better able to focus when reading in print, compared to when reading digitally (Mizrachi et al, 2018).…”

“…Moreover, with respect to reader preferences and habits, a recent large international survey (Mizrachi et al, 2018) with more than 10,000 participants found that, for academic reading, a broad majority reported a preference for print, especially when reading longer texts. Interestingly, participants reported that they felt they remembered the material better and were better able to focus when reading in print, compared to when reading digitally (Mizrachi et al, 2018).…”

“…Now, it is often reported by digital readers that they feel it difficult to have a clear representation on the entirety of the text and to localize a given part of information within the text (e.g., Rose, 2011), and there is some empirical evidence supporting this phenomenon (Mangen and Kuiken, 2014). For this reason, readers of long documents on computer screen often prefer to print the document (Baron et al, 2017; Mizrachi et al, 2018). For a reader, being able to situate where he/she read a given piece of information in the text is important because the relative position of events presented in the space of the text is related to the moment these events took place in the time of the story.…”

Lessons learned from the Academic Reading Format International Study: Developing and coordinating a large international study

“…After a few rejections related to scope and several revisions, our article discussing the findings from 10,293 participants in 21 countries was published by PLOS ONE in May 2018. 7 • Set short-term and long-term goals as relevant. The team agreed upon a paradigm change away from the "either/ or" dichotomy of "print versus electronic" to address the subtleties of when and how students use different formats depending on context, reading task, and desired outcome of a particular assignment.…”

Evaluation and recommendations for greater accessibility of colour figures in ornithology

“…As scientists, we should aim to make our environment and our research more inclusive and accessible (Budden & Michener 2018). This inclusion involves making figures during presentations and publications that are colour-blind compatible (CBC) and ideally black-and-white compatible (BWC), as figures may be printed in blackand-white, which is less expensive than colour printing, with printed material a preferred medium for reading papers for many (Baron et al 2017, Mizrachi et al 2018.…”