Bartell, A. L., Schultz, L. D., & Spyridakis, J. H. (2006). The effect of heading frequency on comprehension of print versus online information. Technical Communication, 53(4), 416-426.

Bartell, A.;Schultz, L.;Spyridakis, J.

2006

Bartell, A. L., Schultz, L. D., & Spyridakis, J. H. (2006). The effect of heading frequency on comprehension of print versus online information. Technical Communication, 53(4), 416-426.

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This article describes research that studied how heading frequency affects comprehension and perceptions of information in print versus online text. The results of this study indicate that heading frequency did not significantly affect the comprehension of readers of print text, while it did significantly affect the comprehension of readers of online text, who had considerably lower comprehension scores with text that had high-frequency versus medium-frequency headings. Although more research is needed, these results remind technical communicators that their readers will comprehend text differently between the two media. The study also highlights the fact that we cannot assume that guidelines for the design of print-based information automatically transfer to the design of online information.

Finds that high-frequency headings and no headings negatively impact on comprehension of online but not to print text. Reports that poor structural cues negatively impact readers of online text more than readers of print text.

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