Recording online processes in task-oriented reading with Read&Answer.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Educational Technology
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Traditional methods for studying task-oriented reading are limited in capturing detailed interaction data.
• Assessing reading comprehension and process often relies on post-task measures or less granular digital tracking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and describe the Read&Answer application for studying task-oriented reading.
• To evaluate the application's utility in research and assessment by comparing its performance with traditional methods.

Main Methods:

• Developed the Read&Answer application, which masks documents and questions, revealing information incrementally.
• Recorded user interactions within the application to analyze reading processes.
• Conducted two studies comparing Read&Answer performance with paper-and-pencil and eye-tracking tasks.

Main Results:

• Read&Answer yielded comparable comprehension scores to traditional reading tasks.
• The application altered the pattern of reading times compared to paper-based and eye-tracked tasks.
• Detailed interaction data was captured for analysis of reading strategies.

Conclusions:

• Read&Answer provides a valuable tool for researching and assessing task-oriented reading processes.
• The application offers a novel way to study reading behavior by capturing fine-grained interaction data.
• Future research can leverage Read&Answer to explore cognitive aspects of reading in digital environments.