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Quasi-Experimental and Experimental Assessment of Electronic Textbook Experiences: Student Perceptions and Test Performance

An increasing number of psychology students encounter electronic textbooks (e-texts), whether by personal choice or instructor adoption. Across two studies—one quasi-experimental and one experimental—we compared students’ experiences with print books versus e-texts. Study 1 capitalized on a naturally occurring comparison: the same course was taught across consecutive semesters at the same university using the same text, but once requiring a print book and once requiring an e-text. An anonymous survey revealed comparable ratings of the degree to which students across the two semesters felt their text was interesting, clear, able to hold their attention, and good value for their money. E-text students reported spending significantly more time on mid/end-of-chapter practice multiple-choice questions than did print book students, and enthusiasm for using an e-text was greater after experience with the modality. Study 2 was a controlled experiment in which participants read the identical section of a psychology text, but were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) print book, (b) on-screen portable document format (PDF), or (c) interactive e-text. Once again, self-report measures were comparable across groups, with the exceptions being that interactive e-text participants reported spending the most time on practice multiple-choice questions and finding those questions most helpful. On a postreading test, interactive e-text participants outperformed other groups on items that were similar to the earlier practice questions, but the three groups did not differ significantly on overall test performance, providing no evidence that on-screen text presentation impaired memory or comprehension. Classroom implications, study limitations, and future research directions are explored.