Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Plos One
Publisher
Public Library of Science
School
School of Science
RAS ID
27258
Funders
Parts of this research have been supported by funding from an internal grant by the Librarians Association of the University of California-Los Angeles. Parts of this research have been supported by seed funding from Carnegie Mellon University under an internal grant titled Novice and Expert Information Behavior in the Arab Gulf.
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.
Additional Information
AFRIS Research Group:
Tania Todorova1, Pan Yantao2, Jiuzhen Zhang3, Daniela Živkovic4, Darija Pešut4, Terttu Kortelainen5, Judit Bar-Ilan6, Noa Aharony6, Elena Collina7, Liga Krumina8, Hanady Geagea9, Silvia Ghinculov10, Ane Landøy11, Almuth Gastinger12, Aurora de la Vega13, Ana Lúcia Terra14, Nicole Johnston15, Angela Repanovici16, Polona Vilar17, René Schneider18, Güleda Dogan19, Serap Kurbanoglu19, Patricia Jamal20, David Bawden21, Jane Secker22, Chris Morrison23, A.M. Salaz24, Diane Mizrachi25*, and Joumana Boustany26
1University of Library Studies and Information Technology, Sofia, Bulgaria
2Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China
3Peking University, Beijing, China
4University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
5Oulu University, Oulu, Finland
6Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
7Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
8Latvijas Universitate, Riga, Latvia
9Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon
10Academy of Economic Studies, Chişinău, Moldova
11Bergen University, Bergen, Norway
12Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
13Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Lima, Peru
14Instituto Politecnico do Porto, Porto, Portugal
15Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Australia
16Transylvania University, Brașov, Romania
17University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
18Haute Ecole de Gestion, Geneva, Switzerland
19Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey
20Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
21City University, London, England
22London School of Economics, London, England
23Kent University, Canterbury, England
24Carnegie Mellon University, Doha, Qatar
25University of California, Los Angeles, USA
26Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, Paris, France
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0197444
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Mizrachi. D,, Salaz, A,M,, Kurbanoglu, S., Boustany, J., on behalf of the ARFIS Research Group (2018). Academic reading format preferences and behaviors among university students worldwide: A comparative survey analysis. PLoS ONE 13(5): e0197444.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197444