In Print or On Screen? Investigating the Reading Habits of Undergraduate Students Using Photo-Diaries and Photo-Interviews

Abstract

This study explores the decision-making process that students engage in when choosing between reading texts in print or on screen. This issue is of key importance to planners and policy makers in libraries and universities at large, but has never been investigated systematically. This quantitative study has a research population of twelve undergraduate students and uses photo-diaries, documenting reading behaviour over three days, followed by individual photo-interviews. The study initially establishes an inventory of perceived advantages and disadvantages of reading in print versus on screen. These perceived advantages and disadvantages are weighted by importance and subdivided into five categories: attitudes, economic factors, physical health and wellbeing, affordances, and engagement with text. Using this framework, the importance of each of these factors on readers' actual choices is assessed for both study-related and leisure reading, and across a broad range of document types. Particular focus is on the role of attitudes in the decision-making process. The research also highlights the seriousness of distraction caused by computers when reading on screen; a problem largely ignored or underrated in current research and literature. The study demonstrates how the application of visual sociology methods ― and in particularly the use of digital cameras ― can be employed successfully in library and reading research to document reading behaviour, to prompt readers to recall their experiences, to reflect on their reading behaviour, and to express their attitudes and beliefs.