The effect of screen size of mobile devices on reading efficiency

Abstract

Past research has shown that academia has no consensus on the advantages and disadvantages between paper-based reading and digital reading, which is why this research is an investigation of the differences between the two mediums for reading, whether it affects the performance of reading, and how do the different sizes of digital reading devices compare to the traditional paper. This researcher utilized questionnaires and behavioral observation as methods of investigation. The use of questionnaires was mainly to understand the operational habits of digital device users and the kinds of writing they read, and the behavior observation entailed asking 40 subjects to read on a given device or paper medium for an experiment on reading comprehension to gather data on user reading speed, comprehension, fatigue and other parameters. The results from this study will be used as a basis to formulate a more comprehensive research framework for a future study that more accurately measures the difference between digital devices of various sizes and paper medium.