Designing electronic text: The role of print-based research

QuikScan formatting as a means to improve text recall

Purpose

QuikScan is an innovative text format that employs three prominent signaling devices – summaries, headings, and access cues – to make the reading of medium‐to‐long texts more productive. The experiments reported in this paper aim to examine the claim that QuikScan contributes to text recall.

Design/methodology/approach

In two consecutive experiments a QuikScanned text (experimental condition) was compared to a non‐QuickScanned text (control condition). In Experiment one, 41 university students read the text and then answered ten open recall questions. In Experiment two, 58 university students read the text and then wrote a summary and answered four recall questions.

Findings

In Experiment one, a statistically significant overall effect on text recall favoring QuikScan was found. Detailed analyses revealed that QuikScan mainly affected the readers' responses to higher‐order questions (d = 1.24). Experiment two showed that QuikScan led to significantly higher recall scores for the summaries. Just as in the first experiment, a strong effect on the higher‐order questions was found (d = 1.27).

Research limitations/implications

Further studies of QuikScan should include studies in naturalistic settings and should address selective reading and information navigation as well as text recall. SARA, a recent comprehensive theory of signaling, makes it possible to identify the individual functions of QuikScan's signaling devices and conduct revealing studies of QuikScan.

Practical implications

QuikScan and other innovations that improve the reading experience can potentially increase the willingness of readers to read longer documents.

Originality/value

QuikScan provides a unique combination of signaling devices. It can facilitate access and enhance text comprehension.