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

Abstract

<div lang="en" class="abs"><p class="abs_header">Abstract</p><p>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.</p></div>

<div lang="en" class="abs"><p class="abs_header">Acknowledgments</p><p>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</p><p>¹University of Library Studies and Information Technology, Sofia, Bulgaria</p><p>²Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China</p><p>³Peking University, Beijing, China</p><p>⁴University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia</p><p>⁵Oulu University, Oulu, Finland</p><p>⁶Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel</p><p>⁷Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy</p><p>⁸Latvijas Universitate, Riga, Latvia</p><p>⁹Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon</p><p>¹⁰Academy of Economic Studies, Chişinău, Moldova</p><p>¹¹Bergen University, Bergen, Norway</p><p>¹²Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway</p><p>¹³Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Lima, Peru</p><p>¹⁴Instituto Politecnico do Porto, Porto, Portugal</p><p>¹⁵Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Australia</p><p>¹⁶Transylvania University, Brașov, Romania</p><p>¹⁷University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia</p><p>¹⁸Haute Ecole de Gestion, Geneva, Switzerland</p><p>¹⁹Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey</p><p>²⁰Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates</p><p>²¹City University, London, England</p><p>²²London School of Economics, London, England</p><p>²³Kent University, Canterbury, England</p><p>²⁴Carnegie Mellon University, Doha, Qatar</p><p>²⁵University of California, Los Angeles, USA</p><p>²⁶Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, Paris, France</p></div>