E-Book Reader Usability Study:Reading Performance and

Comprehension

By Hannah Lee and Thomas Young

Introduction

• As digital and E-book reading continue to become more popular, a close look at how this relatively new medium compares to traditional print is important

• There is no conclusive evidence suggesting that E-book reading may have advantages or disadvantages in comparison to Print Reading

Research Questions

• The experiment is therefore designed to explore the following questions comparing E-book and Print Reading:

• Does E-book reading impair the reader’s ability to have an in-depth understanding of a text?

• Does E-book reading impair reading speed?

Choice of E-book for Study

- The E-ink display bears the closest resemblance to the print format

- Less potential distractions compared to other E-Book readers

The Kindle Touch was chosen for the study because…

Description of Experiment

• 8 participants were divided into two groups (Group A and Group B)

• The groups were created to compare the way each specific text was read on the Kindle and on paper

Group A Group B

Non-Fiction Text (On Paper) vs. Non-Fiction Text (On Kindle)

Fiction Text (On Kindle) vs. Fiction Text (On Paper)

Description of Experiment

Fiction Text:

Excerpt of the Novel The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Non-Fiction Text:

Scientific Article “Dangerous Glass Fibers In Cigarettes Worsen Lung Damage For Smokers” by S.D. Wells

The Texts chosen for the usability study were…

Description of Experiment

• The participants of each group were timed during both readings to measure their reading speed

• Each reading was followed by a 12-question quiz, designed to measure reading comprehension

• After the experiment was completed, each participant was given a Post-Questionnaire asking if they skimmed or re-read during the experiment on either reading format

General Results

• The most significant finding was that the non-fiction text results of the group that read it on the Kindle performed significantly better on the quizzes than those who read the non-fiction text on Print

• Both the fiction and non-fiction texts were read faster on paper than on the Kindle.

• The group that read the fiction text on paper performed better on the quiz than the group that read it on the Kindle

Non-Fiction Reading Time

Reading times, from lowest to highest for non-fiction. (Red : On Kindle , Blue: On Paper)

Average Times

Non-Fiction Article (Paper)

5 minutes and 17 seconds

Non-Fiction Article (Kindle)

5 minutes and 32 seconds

Fiction Reading TimeReading times, from lowest to highest for

fiction. (Red: On Kindle , Blue: On Paper)

Average Times

Fiction Excerpt (Kindle)

5 minutes and 8 seconds

Fiction Excerpt (Paper) 4 minutes and 28 seconds

Discussion of Time Results

• Participants read the fiction excerpt about 13% faster on paper than on the Kindle

• Our fiction results were consistent with the results from a study by Jakob Nielsen in 2010, whose participants read 10.7% slower on the Kindle than on paper while reading short stories

• Participants read the non-fiction article 4.5% faster on paper than on the Kindle

although the marginal difference may render this statistic insignificant

Non-Fiction Test Scores

Test scores for Non-fiction texts on both formats

Average Scores

Non-fiction article on Paper: 58%

Non-fiction article on Kindle: 83%

(Red: On Kindle , Blue: On Paper)

Fiction Test Scores

Test scores for fiction texts on both formats (Red: On Kindle , Blue: On Paper)

Average Scores

Fiction excerpt on Paper: 100%

Fiction excerpt on Kindle: 79%

Discussion of Test Results

• Those who read the non-fiction text on the Kindle performed better on the quiz than those who read non-fiction on paper.

• This could be because people are generally more accustomed to reading non-fiction on digital formats.

• However, they read at a relatively similar pace (only 4.5% slower)

Discussion of Test Results

• The group who read the fiction text on paper performed better on the quiz than those who read fiction on the Kindle.

• The same group also read the fiction text 13% faster on paper than the group that read it on the Kindle

• This may because people are more comfortable reading fiction on print because they are more accustomed to reading paper for leisure type reading

Post-Questionnaire Results

• The participants generally skimmed and reread more on the non-fiction text regardless of the format.

• This suggests that the type of text (i.e. fiction/non-fiction) could be influential in the act of skimming/re-reading than the format (i.e. print/digital).

Limitations

• One Kindle was used for the duration of the entire study.

• The sample of participants consisted of eight people

• The texts were relatively short.• Therefore, the results only apply to

short texts

Conclusions

• E-book readers could be better suited for non-fiction reading, while print reading could be better suited for fiction reading

• The results indicate that further research is required to examine these differences

• More participants, Longer Texts and Usage of Multiple E-book readers in future studies could provide more accurate data in relation to how E-book reading in general compares to Print reading