The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

The impact of skim reading and navigation when reading hyperlinks on the web, experimental data 2009-2018

The impact of skim reading and navigation when reading hyperlinks on the web, experimental data 2009-2018
The impact of skim reading and navigation when reading hyperlinks on the web, experimental data 2009-2018
It has been suggested that readers spend a great deal of time skim reading on the Web and that this type of reading can affect comprehension of text. Across 2 experiments, we utilised eye tracking methodology to explore how hyperlinks and navigating web pages affect reading behaviour. In Experiment 1, participants read static web pages either for comprehension or whilst skim reading, while in Experiment 2, participants additionally read through a navigable Web environment. Embedded target words were either hyperlinks or not and were either high-frequency or low-frequency words. Results from Experiment 1 showed readers only fully lexically process linked words when skim reading, as was evidenced by a frequency effect that was absent for the unlinked words. They did fully lexically process both linked and unlinked words when reading for comprehension. In Experiment 2, which allowed for navigating, readers only fully lexically processed linked words compared to unlinked words, regardless of whether they were skim reading or reading for comprehension. We suggest that readers engage in an efficient reading strategy where they attempt to minimise comprehension loss while maintaining a high reading speed. Readers use hyperlinks as markers to suggest important information and use them to navigate through the text in an efficient and effective way. The task of reading on the Web causes readers to engage with the text in a markedly different way from typical reading experiments.
UK Data Archive
Fitzsimmons, Gemma
ac6b7c69-8992-44f1-92ca-05aa22e75129
Fitzsimmons, Gemma
ac6b7c69-8992-44f1-92ca-05aa22e75129

Fitzsimmons, Gemma (2020) The impact of skim reading and navigation when reading hyperlinks on the web, experimental data 2009-2018. UK Data Archive doi:10.5255/UKDA-SN-854153 [Dataset]

Record type: Dataset

Abstract

It has been suggested that readers spend a great deal of time skim reading on the Web and that this type of reading can affect comprehension of text. Across 2 experiments, we utilised eye tracking methodology to explore how hyperlinks and navigating web pages affect reading behaviour. In Experiment 1, participants read static web pages either for comprehension or whilst skim reading, while in Experiment 2, participants additionally read through a navigable Web environment. Embedded target words were either hyperlinks or not and were either high-frequency or low-frequency words. Results from Experiment 1 showed readers only fully lexically process linked words when skim reading, as was evidenced by a frequency effect that was absent for the unlinked words. They did fully lexically process both linked and unlinked words when reading for comprehension. In Experiment 2, which allowed for navigating, readers only fully lexically processed linked words compared to unlinked words, regardless of whether they were skim reading or reading for comprehension. We suggest that readers engage in an efficient reading strategy where they attempt to minimise comprehension loss while maintaining a high reading speed. Readers use hyperlinks as markers to suggest important information and use them to navigate through the text in an efficient and effective way. The task of reading on the Web causes readers to engage with the text in a markedly different way from typical reading experiments.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Published date: 27 February 2020

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 438055
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/438055
PURE UUID: 0514403e-e50d-47fc-9450-62eb559349d8
ORCID for Gemma Fitzsimmons: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-4519-0499

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 27 Feb 2020 17:30
Last modified: 06 May 2023 01:27

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Creator: Gemma Fitzsimmons ORCID iD

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×