ERIC Number: ED260386
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1985-Feb
Pages: 15
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Reading on the Computer: A Comparison of Standard and Advanced Computer Display and Hard Copy. CDC Technical Report No. 7.
Haas, Christina; Hayes, John R.
Two experimental studies were conducted to compare two typical reading tasks--critical reading and proofreading--on computer display and on hard copy. Ten college freshmen with less than 10 total hours spent on a computer prior to the experiments were trained on the computer system for approximately three hours in two sessions before beginning the experiments. The computer display used for the experiments had a large, bit-mapped screen, variable fonts, and high resolution, black-on-white display. The first experiment compared subjects' efficiency at reading for meaning in one hard copy and four advanced computer conditions. Results showed a significant effect for screen size, with subjects' performance in large screen conditions approaching that of hard copy. There was no effect for text advancement method, nor was there an interaction between variables. The second experiment compared the same subjects' proofreading efficiency in large and small screen conditions and with hard copy. While the mean times for hard copy proofreading were slightly faster, the differences between the three conditions were not significant. (Author/HOD)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Carnegie-Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA. Communications Design Center.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A