METHOD
Participants
Sixty participants from a mid-sized, East Texas university were recruited from the
Psychology department student subject pool. At this university the average verbal SAT score
is 501, and most students in the student subject pool are between 18 and 20 years old.
Participants were compensated with a one-hour experiment participation credit and were
required to have 20/20 vision normally or corrected.
Design
The current research employed a 4 (text format) x 2 (instructions) mixed design. The
independent variables were Text Format (all capitals (AC), mixed case (MC), capital letter
emphasis (CE), and spacing emphasis (SE)), and Instructions (participants told they would be
questioned about the material they read (Q), participants not told they would be questioned
(NQ)).
The following describes each level of the Format variable: AC - email text written
exclusively in upper case letters with single blank lines between paragraphs; MC -email text
written in standard format (some lower and some upper case letters) with single blank lines
between paragraphs; CE -email text written in standard format with four sentences or phrases
in upper case letters and single blank lines between paragraphs; SE - email text written in
standard format with an additional blank line separating the same information capitalized as
in the CE conditions. See Table 1 for examples of each format. The three dependent
variables were reading speed, content retention (for those receiving the questions), and the
reader preference of text format.
Materials
Twenty U.S. Navy emails were each adapted to the four formats described above
(AC, MC, CE, SE). Because the sample texts were adapted from U.S. Navy traffic message
emails written in Arial 10 point type using black text on a white background, the current test
conditions used the same font, size, and colors. The emails varied in their length, with a
minimum of 84 words and a maximum of 844 words (median of 273). A laboratory with 20
single-user computer workstations (Dell Pentium 4 computers) was used to collect data. Each
computer was equipped with Internet access to the Web-based program developed for this
study. The program collected information about each participant's reading time, content
retention, and format preference.
Each participant was presented with all twenty emails; five in each of the four
formats. The specific emails that each participant received in each format were
counterbalanced across participants to control for the varying email lengths and content.
Thus, eight versions of the Internet program were created. Versions one through four were
identical to versions five through eight, however they did not contain questions following
each email message. To minimize order effects within the experimental versions, the
experimental computer program randomized the order in which the emails were presented to
each participant.
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METHODParticipantsSixty participants from a mid-sized, East Texas university were recruited from thePsychology department student subject pool. At this university the average verbal SAT scoreis 501, and most students in the student subject pool are between 18 and 20 years old.Participants were compensated with a one-hour experiment participation credit and wererequired to have 20/20 vision normally or corrected.DesignThe current research employed a 4 (text format) x 2 (instructions) mixed design. Theindependent variables were Text Format (all capitals (AC), mixed case (MC), capital letteremphasis (CE), and spacing emphasis (SE)), and Instructions (participants told they would bequestioned about the material they read (Q), participants not told they would be questioned(NQ)).The following describes each level of the Format variable: AC - email text writtenexclusively in upper case letters with single blank lines between paragraphs; MC -email textwritten in standard format (some lower and some upper case letters) with single blank linesbetween paragraphs; CE -email text written in standard format with four sentences or phrasesin upper case letters and single blank lines between paragraphs; SE - email text written instandard format with an additional blank line separating the same information capitalized asin the CE conditions. See Table 1 for examples of each format. The three dependentvariables were reading speed, content retention (for those receiving the questions), and thereader preference of text format.MaterialsTwenty U.S. Navy emails were each adapted to the four formats described above(AC, MC, CE, SE). Because the sample texts were adapted from U.S. Navy traffic messageemails written in Arial 10 point type using black text on a white background, the current testconditions used the same font, size, and colors. The emails varied in their length, with aminimum of 84 words and a maximum of 844 words (median of 273). A laboratory with 20single-user computer workstations (Dell Pentium 4 computers) was used to collect data. Eachcomputer was equipped with Internet access to the Web-based program developed for thisstudy. The program collected information about each participant's reading time, contentretention, and format preference.Each participant was presented with all twenty emails; five in each of the fourformats. The specific emails that each participant received in each format werecounterbalanced across participants to control for the varying email lengths and content.Thus, eight versions of the Internet program were created. Versions one through four wereidentical to versions five through eight, however they did not contain questions followingeach email message. To minimize order effects within the experimental versions, theexperimental computer program randomized the order in which the emails were presented toผู้เรียนแต่ละ121
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