Evaluating book and hypertext: analysis of individual differences.

This thesis investigates the usability of an 800 page textbook compared with a hypertextversion containing the same information. Hypertext is an interesting new medium in that it isseen as possessing advantages as both delivery technology that influence cost and access toinformation and design technology influencing student achievement. Unfortunately theproclamations of its advocates have usually exceeded empirical findings. Also, rapid advancesin both hardware and software are necessitating the frequent re-evaluation of contemporaryhypertext.In addition to an up-to-date evaluation of the relative performance of book and hypertextsupporting set tasks, the research reported in this thesis also sought to specifically analyse thepotential role individual differences could play within media evaluation. To do this thecognitive styles and spatial ability of 57 postgraduate student volunteers, from two computerrelated diplomas, were measured. Half the subjects were then randomly assigned to a Bookgroup and half to a Hypertext group. Each group was then allocated the same amount of timeto complete two separate tasks: 1) short answer questions analysing the basic informationretrieval potential of each medium, and one week later 2) four open-ended short essayquestions. Surprisingly, subjects assigned to the Book group performed significantly betterthan those assigned to the Hypertext group for Task 1. The mean academic performance ofsubjects (the mean mark obtained over the 8 modules of their diploma) predicted mostvariance in Task 1 performance for both groups. However, with Task 2, the cognitively moredemanding exercise, none of the measured individual differences could significantly predictthe scores of subjects. Another surprising finding, given that all subjects were studyingcomputing, was that the amount of prior computing experience was found to approachsignificance for those subjects assigned to Hypertext for Task 1. Given the ease with whichthis particular individual difference could be manipulated it was decided to run a secondexperiment employing -subjects with more experience of the Hypertext system used. Theresults from this second cohort showed no significant differences in score for either taskbetween Book or Hypertext. However, as the more qualitative data from a questionnaireshowed, there are a large number of different factors and issues that contribute to the ultimateacceptability of one medium compared with the other.The thesis concludes by recommending a number of possible avenues for future researchlooking at the role hypertext has to play in the construction of hyperlibraries and VirtualLearning Environments