386803 10386803YarosScience Communication © 2011 SAGE Publications
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Effects of Text and Hypertext Structures on User Interest and Understanding of Science and Technology
Science Communication XX(X) 1–34 © 2011 SAGE Publications Reprints and permission: http://www. sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1075547010386803 http://scx.sagepub.com
Ronald A.Yaros1
Abstract An experiment (N = 301) manipulated two news stories about science and technology to investigate effects of text and link structures on interest and comprehension. A 2 (Text) × 2 (Link) factorial design included inverted pyramid stories versus a linear narrative. Dependent variables included self-reported interest plus situational understanding. In support of construction–integration theory, the highest interest and understanding scores occurred when the linear (narrative) text structure was read with linear links. Surprisingly, interest and understanding scores placed second for matched nonlinear text and nonlinear links. Mismatched text and links for either condition consistently resulted in poor understanding. Keywords health communication, information acquisition, science journalism, public understanding of science, technology
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University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
Corresponding Author: Ronald A. Yaros, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland, 2100-M Knight Hall, College Park, MD 20742-7111, USA Email:
[email protected]
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Although scholars have known for some time that choices made by journalists can affect how audiences interpret news (Pan & McLeod, 1991), limited research exists about micro-level choices that journalists make as they explain science and health to nonexpert audiences. Previous research focused on macro-scale concepts of how well the public understands science (Miller, 1986, 1987) and the public’s interest in science (Gaskell, Wright, & O’Muircheartaigh, 1993). More recent studies explored effects of “frames,” defined by some as the choices journalists make when reporting news (Kosicki, 2003). In that context, frame choices have been interpreted as macrostructures (Nisbet & Scheufele, 2007; Scheufele & Lewenstein, 2005; Schutz & Wiedemann, 2008). Researching effects of message structures on nonexperts may be particularly helpful given the increased fragmentation of digital audiences and what some claim to be shortening attention spans (Palfrey, 2006). Therefore, the primary goal of this study is to detect how different combinations of texts, hypertext links, and explanation might influence audience engagement with news about science and health. Not surprisingly, nonexperts respond differently to messages than experts (Leon & Perez, 2001; Schriver, 1992). For complex news issues, requiring some level of prior knowledge, journalists risk imputing more knowledge than exists from nonexpert audiences. As Nass noted, “How stories are being told must become less complex as more readers show an unwillingness to allocate enough attention to work through difficult material” (2010). One unanswered question in the context of news about science and health is whether web users respond to and benefit from the ways text and links are combined. The answer may be more important than ever since an increasing number of younger users claim the Internet as their primary source for news (Pew Research Center, 2008). Changing patterns in consumption suggest an urgent need for scholars and journalists alike to test newer communication strategies so nonexpert audiences can engage with and learn about important issues.
Audience Engagement and Learning Since the birth of what we now call “the web,” there has been much discussion and debate about how audiences use, interact with, and learn from digital content. Early arguments stated that the web’s manipulability of information to enhance learning was a myth, according to Dillon (1996), who noted, “To date, the claims have far exceeded the evidence, and few hypertext systems have been shown to lead to either greater comprehension or significantly better performance levels” (pp. 31-32).
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A more recent comment about “digital natives” who grew up with newer media is that they obtain only a limited context of the current world because these younger users tend to hear, read, or view only headlines, bare facts, or at most a paragraph on a web page (Palfrey, 2006). At the same time, others found that the web does indeed satisfy users who want shorter, fact-driven accounts as well as those seeking context, interpretation, and opinion (Tremayne, 2004). Such contradictions contribute to the inconclusive findings about whether learning is superior from the web or print. In one study, learning was significantly better for news in print compared with the same news online (Eveland & Dunwoody, 2001b). Since learning was measured with recognition of content, however, the researchers noted that, “a measure of structural knowledge may have produced quite different results” (pp. 69-70). Competing evidence suggests that the web enhances elaboration and recall of content better than print (Fredin, 1997; Tremayne, 2004). A meta-analysis reported that 8 out of 13 studies found hypertext superior to text (Chen & Rada, 1996). The authors pointed to user variables, such as prior knowledge, goals, and motivation, or content variables of page layout and design as possible explanations for why printed stories failed to facilitate learning. These findings were followed by research that suggested the structure of the message, and not the medium on which the message appears, may play a significant role in comprehension. A study of news text found that linear and explanatory narratives could significantly enhance interest and understanding of news, compared with the same text in a nonlinear “inverted pyramid” (Yaros, 2005). From a different perspective, some researchers investigated the similarities of the nonlinear web with nonlinear functioning of the brain or “structural isomorphism” (Bieber, Vitali, Ashman, Balasubramanian, & Oinaas-Kullonen, 1997; Eveland & Dunwoody, 2001b; Shirk, 1992). In reality, brain imaging is just beginning to probe how humans learn from digital information, and as Poldrack (2010) notes, “If journalism is about learning—about taking in news and information and understanding its relevance to our lives—then what neuroscientists and brain researchers are finding out about the brain and its capacity to absorb information surely matters” (p. 10). The unresolved question is whether different structures of text and links affect an audience’s level of engagement and comprehension? Specifically, Research Question 1: How does linear or nonlinear text, combined with either linear or nonlinear links, influence interest and understanding of science and health?
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Research Question 2: How does explanatory text in complex linear or nonlinear structures affect interest and understanding of science and health news? Coherence in linear text alone plays a major role in the comprehension process because the dominant path for coherence is when text is read line by line (Bolter, 1991). Accordingly, the construction–integration (CI) model for text comprehension (Kintsch, 1988, 1998; Kintsch, Weaver, Mannes, & Fletcher, 1995) predicts that linearity and coherence in text are required if maximum comprehension is to occur.
Linear Construction–Integration Readers with little or no prior knowledge for content benefit significantly from coherence (Simpson & McKnight, 1990; Wenger & Payne, 1996). The CI model is supported by the evidence that linearity contributes to a deeper level of comprehension, the product of when a reader can synthesize his or her knowledge with content (Kintsch, 1988). It also appears that text comprehension depends on a reader’s ability to generate associative links from within a linear text (Kintsch & van Dijk, 1978). In sum, reader inferences and cognitive associations from a text are more likely if the text is coherent. Despite the known benefits of coherence, some have found that the commonly used inverted pyramid (IP) structure in news does not always represent coherence (van Dijk, 1985) because the pyramid presents information in order of perceived importance (van Dijk, 1986). Indeed, van Dijk’s analyses found that news was not always a direct representation of events and concluded that less familiar content—regardless of its perceived importance—should be treated as a form of discourse processing (van Dijk, 1983). His series of studies found facts often followed by unrelated information without clarification or explanation, which significantly reduced message coherence (van Dijk, 1983, 1985). For science and health news, this finding could be important. Additionally, van Dijk (1986) reported that topic changes within a news schema contributed to discontinuity, forcing readers to first unscramble bits of information then later piece those bits together. Aspects of these microlevel structures or explanation in news have not been integrated into the discussions of audience understanding or interpretation of “frames” in news. This research seeks to fill that void by exploring whether varying text and
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links can influence user interest and understanding, the dependent variables for this study.
Interest and Understanding An individual’s interest in content influences his or her selective exposure to content (Ettema, Brown, & Luepker, 1983; Genova & Greenberg, 1979; Kwak, 1999; Viswanath, Kahn, Finnegan, Hertog, & Potter, 1993). The concern is that interest can be a “slippery concept” if not precisely explicated (Kintsch, 1992). Previous research conceptualized interest at the macrolevel, considering it as the extent to which people are suitably equipped for life in an advanced society (Evans & Durant, 1989). For more precision, this study differentiates interest into the two dimensions of either situational interest or individual interest.
Interest Individual interest is defined as a person’s uninterrupted engagement in a specific domain that develops over time and with long-lasting effects on the person’s knowledge and values (Renninger, Hidi, & Krapp, 1992). As such, individual interest could be detectable a priori because a person’s long-term interest in a broad topic such as science, for example, already exists prior to exposure to specific information about science. In contrast, and as operationalized for this study, situational interest is evoked suddenly by a person’s exposure to a particular stimulus followed by the perceived “interestingness” of the stimulus. Consequently, situational interest at a particular moment is typically short term and only marginally influences the knowledge and values of an individual who may have little or no familiarity for the content. Some consider situational interest generated by the characteristics of a specific environment at a given time that could capture the attention of many individuals (Hidi & Baird, 1986; Hidi & McLaren, 1990). Therefore, situational interest from a reader with little or no individual interest in science would be elicited if the reader begins reading content about science and would like to continue reading (Krapp, 1988). Based on this explication, competing hypotheses predict that situational interest is influenced by message structure. Hypothesis 1a: Situational interest will be greater for linear (narrative) text and links than it is for nonlinear (IP) text and links.
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Hypothesis 1b: Situational interest will be greater for NONlinear (IP) text and hypertext than it is for linear (narrative) text and links. The second dependent variable in this study, and one related to interest, is an individual’s level of understanding of content.
Understanding Similar to interest, understanding is also explicated into two dimensions. These include either text-based or situational understanding. Some use textbased understanding to describe the recall or recognition of recently read content because such recollection often requires short-term memorization of words or phrases that are recognized on subsequent tests. On the other hand, more robust situational understanding requires a person to infer and then synthesize previously presented information with his or her prior knowledge and experience (McNamara & Kintsch, 1996). Theoretically, situational understanding requires many of the semantic and contextual features necessary for reactivation of relevant information presented in a message (O’Brien & Myers, 1999). Deeper levels of processing for terms, associations, and processes presented by a message are subsequently measured with open-ended and thought-listing questions, and sorting tasks that require the comprehender to sort related terms into contextual categories. Of course, a single message can contribute to both a text-based and situational understanding. This has been demonstrated by previous studies of inferential reasoning (Mannes & Kintsch, 1987), computer programming tasks (Schmalhofer & Glavanov, 1986), student understanding of biology (McNamara, Kintsch, Songer, & Kintsch, 1996), and navigating unfamiliar routes (Perig & Kintsch, 1985). Situational understanding was identified when individuals employed the prior knowledge needed to draw crucial inferences from the stimuli to problem solve. If a comprehender is unable to employ his or her prior knowledge to draw inferences, the potential for situational understanding is reduced (Kintsch, 1988). Addressing the relationship of interest and understanding, this study predicts, Hypothesis 2: For news about science and technology, situational interest will correlate positively with situational understanding.
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Given competing structures of linear construction integration or the nonlinear IP, plus debate about better learning from either the web or in print, the following predictions are tested for nonexperts who engage with science and health news online. In support of linear CI structure: Hypothesis 3a: Situational understanding will be better for linear (explanatory structure-building narrative) text and links than for nonlinear (IP) text and links. Conversely, in support of the nonlinear IP structure: Hypothesis 3b: Situational understanding will be better for nonlinear (IP) text and links than for linear (narrative) text and links.
Method Design An experimental 2 (Text structure) × 2 (Hypertext link structure) factorial design tested participants’ situational interest in—and understanding of— two news stories. Levels of text included the nonlinear IP structure versus a modified linear narrative of the same news content. The levels of links included commonly used nonlinear network links that take users to other web pages versus linear axial links embedded within a text. Axial links can be used to explain a single term or process.
Participants A total of 301 undergraduates were recruited from courses in English composition, journalism, and introductory meteorology. Each course was offered to nonscience majors at a large Midwest university. Participants earned extra credit in exchange for voluntary participation.
Materials Scientific content is generally less familiar to nonexpert audiences (Dunwoody, 1992; Lewenstein, 1992, 1994; Miller, 1987, 2001, 2004). For that reason, two New York Times (nytimes.com) stories—one about nanotechnology and the other about breast cancer research—were tested.
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Both stories were selected following a pretest of four different stories using a separate sample of 10 participants who ranked each story on dimensions of perceived complexity, importance, and familiarity. The nanotechnology and health stories selected for this study were ranked highest in complexity and importance, but lowest in familiarity. The two original stories were structured in a nonlinear IP, placing the most recent “newsworthy” details first followed by context and background information later in the text. The health story was dated July 24, 2003 and contained 642 words. The nanotechnology story, dated February 12, 2004, contained 778 words.
Text Manipulation To modify the original IP structures into linear narrative texts, all paragraphs in the original stories were coded by themes then rearranged for storytelling as guided by previous textual analyses (Mayer, 1985b; van Dijk, 1986). Sample paragraph themes included history, context, outcomes, comments (i.e., quotes in the story), and explanation or an “informational frame.” The linear CI structure of the health story, for example, was produced after the 15 coded paragraphs of the original IP story were rearranged and consolidated into 13 paragraphs without reducing the number of words (Appendix A). After rearranging the paragraphs, all sentences of the original paragraphs were divided into “idea units” (Appendix B). An idea unit represented a single event or action expressed within a single sentence (Mayer, 1985a). Next, explanations were added to any scientific term or process not explained within an idea unit. This was performed because previous analyses found most science news failed to include explanation (L. Long, 1991, 1995; M. A. Long et al., 1991). That is why some suggest frameworks to determine why science news is difficult to understand and to explore structures that overcome the obstacles (Rowan, 1988, 1999). All idea units were numbered then reviewed for unexplained scientific terms. To identify which terms are most scientific, two undergraduate nonscience students (separate from the study’s sample) each identified terms that they thought required prior science knowledge to understand. Intercoder reliability of the data produced a Cronbach’s alpha of .85. Ultimately, only terms noted by both coders as scientific were modified for explanation. In all cases, the explanation meant either replacing a single word with a more basic word or adding a clarifying word. As illustrated in Appendix B, idea unit 8 contained the unexplained scientific term inorganic. The scientific term semiconductor that appeared in idea
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unit 10 and 25, however, was explained (albeit later) in idea unit 26 with the words magnetic properties. The word magnetic was coded as familiar by both coders, so semiconductor was considered explained in the original story. In the health story, 222 idea units yielded 55 scientific terms, only 2 of which were coded as explained. This suggested the remaining 96% of the unexplained scientific idea units in the text imputed some knowledge from nonexperts. This finding is not novel, however. Previous research found that individuals more often overestimate the commonality of their own knowledge. Pertinent to writers with specialized training or experience, research suggests that individuals often impute knowledge to others if they have it themselves than if they do not (Nickerson, 1999; Nickerson, Baddeley, & Freeman, 1987). The manipulated narrative versions of both news stories, guided by the CI model, appear with the original IP versions in Appendix C.
Link Manipulation Hypertext links were operationalized as the two structures of network or axial (Engebretsen, 2000). Links connecting to a virtually infinite number of web pages are network links. To illustrate their commonality, a previous analysis described a CNN.com news story that contained two to three paragraphs with eight different events about the War in Iraq (Tremayne, 2004). The network links to additional pages provided users the options to view (a) the full 800-word news story, (b) two stories related to incidents in the original story, (c) two slide shows, (d) two interactive maps, and (e) five video reports. The study noted that “most of these pages have links to still more related material” (p. 238). Network links employed in this study connected to web pages related to the original story. Users had the freedom to read and/or continue linking to other pages, which would likely contain more network links. In the linear link condition, Engebretsen’s (2000) axial links were used. The axial structure consists of a central node (i.e., the original web story) with links embedded within the text. Axial links usually appear as underlined words in a text. When a participant clicked an axial link, a small window opened on screen to display additional explanation about a specific term, phrase, or process in the original story. Axial links did not connect to other web sites. Users could either keep the small explanatory window open or click the window to close it. For each story in the experiment, an original IP text and a modified linear text were combined with either five network links or five axial links. A summary of the linear and nonlinear conditions appear in Table 1.
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Table 1. Manipulation Matrix Nonlinear Condition Text Links
Inverted pyramid order of perceived importance Network links to related pages (side of page)
Linear Condition Construction–integration narrative Axial links to explain a single term (embedded)
Procedure Participants volunteered for this study by registering online approximately 2 weeks prior to their assigned experimental session. During registration, participants answered 12 civic scientific literacy questions provided by the National Science Board (Miller, 1998) and indicated their long-term (individual) interest for a variety of topics ranging from politics and sports to science and technology. Embedding science and technology within the list weeks prior to the experiment reduced the likelihood that participants could identify the topics of interest of the study. Registrants received an e-mail with an assigned study ID confirming his or her participation. The ID was later used to match each participant’s pretested scientific knowledge and individual interest in science with subsequent interest and understanding of the stories. On arrival at the windowless computer lab, participants signed a consent form, were randomly assigned to one of 12 identical Macintosh computers, and then viewed stories in two of the four texts and link conditions. Exposure was counterbalanced to reduce order effects, and users were instructed to read the stories and interact with links as they would typically when reading news online. The experimental session was not timed so participants could read at there own pace. To verify link interactivity later, click streams were recorded by a web-based javascript system, which also displayed each story on the computer screen. The situational interest score was the mean of two self-reported “interestingness” ratings, one after participants read the first paragraph, and the other near the end of each story. Participants used a scale of 0 to 5 with 0 representing a desire to terminate reading and 5 indicating a strong desire to continue reading. Situational understanding used a battery of questions and sorting tasks after participants read both stories. Answers to free recall questions were analyzed for the number of user-generated idea units (as described in the previous section on text manipulation). Sorting tasks required users to arrange 15 terms
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Yaros Table 2. Situational Interest Story Linear text Nanotechnology Health Nonlinear text Nanotechnology Health
Linear Links 1.44 2.50 1.22 1.66
Nonlinear Links 1.13 2.26 1.85 2.53
from each story. Previous research showed that accurately sorting terms from previously read text into contextual categories can be a reliable indicator of situational understanding (McNamara et al., 1996). True/false questions plus multiple-choice questions with detailed answers (as opposed to answers with only one or two recognizable words) required users to critically evaluate all possible options before answering. Following the test, participants were given the option to read a debriefing statement about the study and then instructed on screen to quietly exit the lab so other participants would not be disturbed. All participants completed the experiment in less than 1 hour.
Results The sample of 301 participants comprised 73% female and 27% male. Mean age was 19.8 years with 48% sophomore students and 28% juniors. A posttest of story familiarity using a scale of 0 (no familiarity with the story) to 5 (much familiarity), indicated little familiarity with the health story (M = 0.98, SD = 1.31) and even less for the nanotech story (M = 0.42, SD = 0.91). Around 56% of the participants reported zero familiarity, but data from three participants who reported moderate to high familiarity with at least one of the stories were excluded from the analyses. One-way analysis of variance tests for homogeneity revealed no significant differences between participants in civic-scientific literacy, time spent browsing news online, number of science or math courses, or grade point average.
Situational Interest Overall by content, interest ratings for the nanotech stories were lower than the health stories (Table 2). Within the same content, interest was lowest for the mismatched structures of nonlinear links with linear text (M = 1.13,
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SD = 1.29). For the matching (coherent) text/link structures, interest in the nanotech’s nonlinear text/links (M = 1.85, SD = 1.50) was higher than linear text/links (M = 1.44, SD = 1.50). Controlling for a priori individual interest, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) indicated the difference to be significant, F(1, 140) = 7.787, p ≤ .006, η2 = .054. This supported Hypothesis 1b that the nonlinear IP would generate more interest than linear text/links. Comparing the matched with unmatched text/link structures, interest in the nanotech story with linear text and links (M = 1.44, SD = 1.50) was higher than linear text with nonlinear links (M = 1.22, SD = 1.32), but that difference was not significant. For the health story by structure, interest in the nonlinear text/links (M = 2.53, SD = 1.15) was only slightly higher than the linear text and links (M = 2.50, SD = 1.34). As indicated in Table 2, interest in the health story was highest for nonlinear text and links (M = 2.53, SD =1.15) and higher than the mismatch of nonlinear links with linear text (M = 2.26, SD = 1.55). By the means, matching text/link structures for the health story appeared to be more effective than the mismatched structures, but the effect was not statistically significant.
Correlating Interest With Understanding To test Hypothesis 2, Pearson correlation indicated that interest in the health story with linear text and links positively correlated with levels of understanding (r = .38, n = 73, p = .001, two-tailed). A similar correlation occurred even for the mismatch of nonlinear text with linear links (r = .43, n = 75, p ≤ .001, two-tailed). For the nanotechnology story, a significant positive correlation of interest and understanding occurred as well, but only for the matched structure of nonlinear text with nonlinear links (r = .32, n = 74, p < .005, two-tailed). Consequently, Hypothesis 2 was supported for the health story and only partially supported for the nanotechnology story.
Situational Understanding As presented in Table 3, understanding of the nanotech story with linear text and links (M = 32.60, SD = 8.44) was better than for the nonlinear text and links (M = 29.87, SD = 8.09). Controlling for prior science knowledge, the difference was significant, F(1, 140) = 4.671, p ≤ .032. Hypothesis 3a, reflecting the CI model, was supported. Also for the nanotech story, understanding was greater for nonlinear links and text (M = 29.87, SD = 8.09) than for the mismatch of nonlinear links and
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Yaros Table 3. Situational Understanding Story Linear text Nanotechnology Health Nonlinear text Nanotechnology Health
Linear Links 32.60 36.41 26.76 27.64
Nonlinear Links 28.10 34.32 29.87 36.36
linear text (M = 28.10, SD = 9.30), but the difference was not significant. Hypothesis 3b was not supported. However, understanding of the nanotech story was greatest for matched linear links and text (M = 32.60, SD = 8.44), compared with the mismatched linear links and nonlinear text (M = 26.76, SD = 8.76). In support of Hypothesis 3a and the construction–integration model, ANCOVA produced a significant main effect, F(1, 145) = 13.995, p ≤ .001, η2 = .090. Understanding of the health story was slightly better for linear text and links (M = 36.41, SD = 7.86) than for nonlinear text and links (M = 36.36, SD = 8.14). Across structures, understanding was greatest for coherent nonlinear links and text (M = 36.36, SD = 8.14) compared with mismatched nonlinear links with linear text (M = 34.32, SD = 8.91). Understanding of the health story also supported the linear text and links. Controlling for prior knowledge, there was a significant effect of structure on understanding, F(1, 145) = 44.125, p ≤ .001, η2 = .237. There was also a significant effect of structure on user interest in the health story, F(1, 140) = 11.499, p = .001, η2 = .077.
Trends of Interest and Understanding As listed in Table 4, the nonlinear network link condition in the nanotech story produced higher interest scores (M = 1.56, SD = 1.47) than linear links (M = 1.34, SD = 1.42). Conversely, better understanding occurred for linear link conditions (M = 29.78, SD = 9.05) than for nonlinear links (M = 28.95, SD = 8.77). Similarly, for the health story, there was a significant main effect of link structure on interest, F(1, 295) = 5.201, p ≤ .023, η2 = .018, with nonlinear network links producing higher interest ratings (M = 2.44, SD = 1.36) than linear links (M = 2.06, SD = 1.43). Controlling for prior science knowledge, ANCOVA indicated a significant main effect of link structure on
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Table 4. Mean Interest and Understanding of Stories by Link Condition Network Links Nanotech story Interest Understanding Health story Interest Understanding
Axial Links
M
SD
M
1.56 28.95
1.47 8.75
1.34 29.78
2.44 2.44
1.36 1.36
2.06 2.06
SD 1.42 9.05 1.43 1.43
Figure 1. Link use by story structure
Note: ESB = Explanatory Structure-Building; IP = inverted pyramid.
understanding, F(1, 285) = 10.11, p ≤ .002, η2 = .035. Contrary to the nanotech story, situational understanding of the health story with nonlinear network links (M = 35.38, SD = 8.55) surpassed linear links (M = 31.88, SD = 9.13).
Interactivity To verify link interactivity, the numbers of clicks were recorded (Figure 1). Overall, linear axial links generated approximately twice the number of
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clicks with 225 as compared with 110 network links. The fewest number of clicks occurred for the original nonlinear New York Times text with the familiar nonlinear network link structure (35 clicks). Interestingly, most of the linear axial links (122) were clicked when mismatched with nonlinear text, and the opposite occurred for nonlinear links. Most were clicked when mismatched with linear text (75 clicks). These data confirmed that link interactivity occurred.
Discussion This study pursued questions about the relationships of message structure, explanation, interest, and understanding of science and health news. There were three primary outcomes. First, the results reaffirm the important relationship of an individual’s interest in content to his or her understanding of that content. A significant positive correlation of interest with understanding occurred for three of the four text/link structures. Second, in support of the CI model, situational understanding of both stories by nonexperts was highest when linear text was matched with linear links. A third outcome (providing support for the opposite structure of nonlinearity) was that a linear text is not always required when communicating news online. Instead, results point to the coherence of text plus other elements (i.e., links) that accompany the text. Although interest in the health story was rated higher overall (which might also be related to better understanding of the health story), results for both stories provided a consistent pattern (Figures 2 and 3). When controlling for prior knowledge and interest, situational interest for the health story was highest for matched linear text and links followed by matched nonlinear text and nonlinear links (the highest interest of all four conditions). The mismatched structures of either linear text with nonlinear links or nonlinear text with linear links produced lower interest scores. Understanding of the health story was also best for matched linear links and text (best of all four conditions), followed by matched nonlinear text and nonlinear links. Again, lower levels of understanding occurred for both the mismatched structures of linear text with nonlinear links or nonlinear text and linear links. Surprisingly, the same pattern (although not quite as pronounced) occurred for the nanotech story. Situational interest and understanding were highest when the text structure matched the link structure regardless of linearity. Post hoc analysis of the click stream data (Figure 3) indicated that users clicked more linear axial links overall (225) compared with network links (110).
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Figure 2. Health story
Note: ESB = Explanatory Structure-Building; IP = inverted pyramid.
Of all four structures, users clicked the most on linear axial links (122) when they were combined with nonlinear IP text. The second highest number of links (103) was associated with the message structure that produced the greatest amount of interest and understanding. The least amount of links (35) occurred for the matched structure of nonlinear links and nonlinear text. This structure produced the second highest scores of interest and understanding. Therefore, link interactivity does not positively correlate with the results of the dependent variables. This suggests that interest and understanding of science and health news may depend more on the coherence in text/link structure than on link interactivity.
Limitations and Future Research One limitation of this study is the self-reported measure of situational interest, which may not be the most valid measure. It is not clear whether the higher interest ratings for the breast cancer health story reflected the preferences of a predominantly female sample. At the same time, measuring link activity also has its limitations. Future study might try correlating self-reported interest with link interactivity to enhance ecological validity of the concept.
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Figure 3. Nanotechnology story
Note: ESB = Explanatory Structure-Building; IP = inverted pyramid.
Also, situational interest might correlate in certain ways with eye movements. Future study of interest and understanding might benefit from eye-tracking analyses that measure participants’ reading and eye fixations (Cook, Halleran, & O’Brien, 1998). One recent eye-tracking study found that longer viewing time does not always indicate greater understanding of the content viewed. The study, however, did not test the combined text and links as measured in this study (Yaros & Cook, 2010). In terms of comprehension, prior knowledge is not the only variable that can affect an individual’s understanding of content. Previous research found that learning from text in which causal relations were made explicit was related more to reading skill than to prior knowledge (Voss & Silfies, 1996). It has also been shown that reading time correlates with message coherence and subsequent comprehension (McNamara, 2001). This study did not record reading times. Although a relatively large sample of participants viewed two stories, future studies should test a variety of stories from more sources to address possible individual differences in reading and comprehension. Arguably, differing locations of the two link structures (network links along the side versus axial links embedded) may have been a confounding
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factor, since more embedded axial links were clicked. Was that a function of interest in explanation or merely a convenient link location? At the same time, the greatest link interactivity occurred for mismatched text and link structures. If anything, the greater interactivity for “mixed” text and link structures may explain the reduced levels of understanding for those conditions. More research is needed to explore possible relationships of links and understanding. Situational understanding was measured only immediately after exposure. Other studies have reported increased comprehension of content when users were tested days following exposure (Fletcher, 1994). Therefore, future research should test situational understanding at later time points. Finally, research is often criticized for its use of students as a convenience sample. Given the nonrandom sample used in this study, results cannot be generalized to other populations. At the same time, however, students were a reasonable target sample, given that most college-aged users claim the Internet as their primary source for news.
Conclusion Results from our manipulations of linear and nonlinear structures— although not always statistically significant—may help to explain why previous studies of user interactivity on cognitive load, printed text versus text on screen, and relationships of user motivation and interactivity, produced contradictory outcomes (Eveland, Cortese, Park, & Dunwoody, 2002; Eveland & Dunwoody, 1998, 2001a, 2001b; Eveland, Krisztina, & Seo, 2004; Eveland, Marton, & Seo, 2002; Tremayne, 2004; Tremayne & Dunwoody, 2001). Effects of message structure, as observed in this study, cannot be discarded as other possible factors in studies that investigated learning of content online and in print. Theoretically, these results suggest that coherence between text and links is perhaps as important as the coherence in text alone. If so, this may be one of the first studies to explore new variables and strategies for communicating complex news to nonexperts online. Although there was no primary structure that enhanced understanding (such as linear text and links), the consistent pattern of matching text and links structures (linear or nonlinear) cannot be ignored. For whatever reason,
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it appeared that participants adjusted their comprehension strategies to varying levels of text and link coherence. Further research is needed to investigate a possible explanation. Understanding the effects of microstructures would be especially helpful when conveying important information to novelty-seeking audiences who must cut through digital clutter. Enhancing interest of online audiences means gaining a better understanding of why and how the brain responds to novelty— and then taking advantage of this knowledge in figuring out how to attract attention (Poldrack, 2010). Coherence in text and links, plus explanation of terms and processes, appear to address at least the initial stage of retaining readers, not just attracting them. This study’s focus on link structure also addresses the popularity of link use by users who desire additional information online. According to the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project, 68% of those surveyed ranked links higher in importance than multimedia, customized news, interactive charts, graphics and maps, opportunities to comment, or connecting news sites to social networks (Pew Research Center, 2010). Clearly, coherence of text and link structures cannot be considered as the only factor producing or inhibiting interest and comprehension of news. Future research of content that integrates these structures should also explore how other web page features and heuristics add richness to the model for communicating to nonexperts. Regardless of the interpretation of this study’s specific outcomes, a broader conclusion is that certain message structures can influence audience interest and comprehension. Although previous research investigated how photos, graphics, and video might influence user interest, little, if any, web research has focused on how text and links are combined. Exploring variables that affect comprehension could shed additional light on the so-called deficit model of audience knowledge. These results also suggest additional opportunities to explore the effects of structure and more explanations in science and health news. The consistent patterns from both stories paint an intriguing—albeit perplexing—picture about the relationships of online news and comprehension. It is unrealistic to think that journalists and web producers could easily verify the coherence of every link and every sentence on a web page. Alternatively, perhaps additional features or automated procedures in content management systems might be developed to analyze text and link structures.
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As noted by van Dijk (1988), “News structures can also be explicitly linked to social practices and ideologies of news making and, indirectly, to the institutional and macro sociological contexts of news media” (p. vii). From that perspective, this study represents a small first step. Miller (2004) wrote, “The tools for communication and learning are unparalleled in both quality and access and will undoubtedly have a substantial impact on adult information seeking and acquisition, but the nature and direction of this impact are not clear” (p. 291). It is quite possible that, in time, the Internet will eventually become the primary news source for all demographics. Avoiding effects of micro-level structures in news supports the focus on only macro-level structures and their effects on audiences. Results reported here help to bring that assumption into question. As producers of news—especially complex news—feel the mounting pressures from an overwhelming amount of competition for audiences, the ways that online stories are structured and presented will also increase in importance.
Appendix A Manipulation of Paragraph Order (Health Story) Original nonlinear (IP) paragraphs Linear (CI) narrative paragraphs 1 STORY: lead
STORY: lead with situation
2 Situation
SITUATION: Background: History
3 Situation: Outcome
SITUATION: Background: Context
4 Background: Technical (MRI)
SITUATION: Outcome
5 Explanation: Technical
SITUATION: Explanation
6 Comments: Reactions
COMMENTS: Reactions
7 more tech: (dropped)
SITUATION: Explanation: Context
8 Situation: Background: History
SITUATION: Background: History
9 Situation: Background: Context
SITUATION: Technical (MRI)
10 Situation Explanation
COMMENTS: Expectations
11 Situation: Background: History
COMMENTS: Evaluations
12 Background: Credits
COMMENTS: Evaluations
13 Comments: Expectations
BACKGROUND: Credits
14 Comments: Evaluations
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15 Comments: Evaluation
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Appendix B Idea Units With Unexplained Terms in Boldface (Nanotechnology Story) 12345-1-Unexplained 678-2-U 910-3-E 1112-4-U 131415-5-U 16171819202122-6-U 232425-7-E 26
Living organisms do a fine job of growing crystals, like the ones that make up [abalone shells], some sea shells for example. But there are lots of other [inorganic materials], including those that make up [semiconductors], explained in unit 26 that living things haven’t gotten around to producing. That may change, though, with some help from a tiny benign virus and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Taking over where nature left off, the professor, Angela M. Belcher, has [induced the virus to produce], at last count, roughly 30 inorganic materials (see idea 8) with [semiconducting] or magnetic properties (explains idea 10 and 25)
Appendix C Benign Viruses Shine on the Silicon Assembly Line (Nanotech Story) Original New York Times Inverted Pyramid Story (778 Words) Page 1. Living organisms do a fine job of growing crystals, like the ones that make up abalone shells, for example. But there are lots of other inorganic materials, including those that make up semiconductors, that living things
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haven’t gotten around to producing. That may change, though, with some help from a tiny benign virus and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Page 2. Taking over where nature left off, the professor, Angela M. Belcher, has induced the virus to produce, at last count, roughly 30 inorganic materials with semi conducting or magnetic properties. “We have forced organisms to grow some of the technologically interesting materials that nature hasn’t had the opportunity yet to work with,” said Dr. Belcher, an associate professor of materials science. Now she and her team report in the journal Science that they have selectively altered the DNA in their viruses to generate a variety of tiny wires made of magnetic and semi conducting materials. Such wires may one day be part of the extremely small circuitry in the next generation of ever-shrinking high-speed electronic components. “It’s amazing,” she said. “Not only does the virus make this nice semiconductor wire at room temperature, but all the crystals are aligned.” The shape of the new wires offers not only beauty but utility as well, said William S. Rees Jr., director of the Molecular Design Institute at the Georgia Institute of Technology and currently on leave at the Department of Homeland Security in Washington. “The entire field of nanoelectronics depends upon the ability to mass produce cost-effective components,” he said, “and she has opened the door to this.” Most nano wires currently tend to be less than uniform in shape, he said, but Dr. Belcher has produced highly regular forms. “Hers are all the same diameters and length,” he said. “It’s similar to grass growing in your front lawn when it’s well manicured and each blade is the same height.” Dr. Belcher’s team uses the virus as temporary scaffolding on which the crystals grow. The viruses are first altered by the insertion of a few amino acid chains, called peptides, so that they attract a particular material like zinc sulfide or cadmium sulfide. As the material starts to form a crystal on the virus, Dr. Belcher adds elemental components of zinc sulfide or cadmium sulfide in a solution, and the crystals grow into individual nanowires. Then the virus is baked away. It is all a matter of affinity, molecular recognition and genetic programming, Dr. Belcher said. “We programmed the virus to grow a particular material at a particular length,” she said. “Then we burned off the virus and were left with single-crystal semiconductor wires.” “Viruses are nice stuff to work with,” she said, but she and her colleagues are starting to use the technique with other organisms, too. Thomas N. Theis, director of physical sciences at I.B.M. Research in Hawthorne, N.Y., describes
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Dr. Belcher’s work as part of a relentless drive toward miniaturization of complex electronic structures, and predicts that it will have a big impact. “This kind of chemistry could revolutionize many manufacturing processes by making them less expensive,” he said. Dr. Belcher has jointly founded a company, Semzyme, with Evelyn L. Hu, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of California at Santa Barbara, to try to bring the technology to the marketplace. Dr. Belcher started her research into this method for making nanowires in early 2000, when she took a library of viruses that were identical except for one DNA insert coded for the production of a random peptide. She wanted to see whether, by virtue of the peptides they produced, some of those viruses would attract and bind with semiconducting materials. Most had no effect and were discarded. When they did find a promising virus, copies of it were made by inserting it into a living bacterial cell. “Then we had a population of a virus with some affinity to a semiconductor,” she said. The group tested for attraction under increasingly stringent conditions, replicating successful candidates again and again. The procedure gradually grew more streamlined. “By now it only takes us two weeks,” Dr. Belcher said. That accomplished, she began using the viruses to create nanowires. The process is independent of the virus used. “This is actually a genetic tool kit for growing and organizing nanowires for these semiconducting and magnetic materials,” Dr. Belcher said. Dr. Belcher pointed out that the self-assembling her materials did was quite different from the dreaded self-replication so often evoked by foes of nanotechnology. “These materials don’t replicate themselves,” she said. They can be programmed only to assemble in a particular place in a particular shape.
Modified Construction–Integration Narrative (776 Words) Page 1. Living organisms do a fine job of growing crystals, like the ones that make up some seashells, for example. But there are lots of other materials, including those that make up semiconductors, that living things cannot yet produce. That may change, though, with help from a tiny particle that lives as a parasite in plants and animals. The particle is a harmless virus. Page 2. Professor Angela M. Belcher and her research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology report in the journal Science that they have modified the genetics in viruses to generate a variety of tiny wires called nanowires, which are made of magnetic and semiconducting materials. Nanotechnology is a collective term that refers to developments on the nanometer scale, or one millionth of a millimeter in size. Such tiny wires may one day
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be part of the small circuitry in the next generation of ever-shrinking highspeed electronic components. “It’s amazing,” Professor Belcher said. “Not only does the virus make this nice semiconductor wire at room temperature, but all the crystals are aligned.” Taking over where nature left off, the researchers, has caused the virus to produce, at last count, about 30 materials that have semiconducting or magnetic properties. Dr. Belcher started her research into this method for making nanowires in early 2000, when she experimented with a library of viruses that were nearly identical. She wanted to see whether, some of the viruses would attract and bind with semiconducting materials. Most had no effect and were discarded. However, when researchers did find a promising virus, copies of the virus were made. “Then we had a population of a virus with some affinity to a semiconductor,” she said. The group tested for attraction under strictly controlled conditions, replicating successful candidates again and again. The procedure gradually grew more streamlined. “By now, it only takes us two weeks,” Dr. Belcher reported. That accomplished, Dr. Belcher, an associate professor of materials science, began using the viruses to create nanowires. The production process is independent of the virus used. “This is actually a genetic tool kit for growing and organizing nanowires for these semiconducting and magnetic materials,” Dr. Belcher said. She pointed out that the process her materials completed was quite different from the self-replication process often noted by opponents of nanotechnology. “These materials don’t replicate themselves,” she said. They can be programmed only to assemble in a particular place and a particular shape. “We have forced organisms to grow some of the technologically interesting materials that nature hasn’t had the opportunity yet to work with,” said Dr. Belcher. Most nanowires currently tend to be different in shape, said William S. Rees Jr., director of the Molecular Design Institute at the Georgia Institute of Technology, but Dr. Belcher has produced highly regular forms. “Hers are all the same diameters and length,” said Rees. “It’s similar to grass growing in your front lawn when it’s well manicured and each blade is the same height.” It is all a matter of similarity recognition and programming, Dr. Belcher said. “We programmed the virus to grow a particular material at a particular length,” she said. “Then we burned off the virus and we’re left with singlecrystal semiconductor wires.” “Viruses are nice stuff to work with,” Dr. Belcher
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said, but she and her colleagues are starting to use the technique with other organisms, too. Thomas N. Theis, director of physical sciences at I.B.M. Research in Hawthorne, N.Y., describes Dr. Belcher’s work as part of a relentless drive toward miniaturization of complex electronics and predicts that it will have a big impact. “This kind of chemistry could revolutionize many manufacturing processes by making them less expensive,” he said. The shape of the new wires offers not only beauty but utility as well, said William Rees “The entire field of nanoelectronics depends upon the ability to mass produce cost-effective components,” Rees said, “and she has opened the door to this.” Dr. Belcher’s team uses the virus as a platform on which the crystals grow. The viruses are first altered so that they attract a particular material. As the material starts to form a crystal on the virus, Dr. Belcher adds a solution of elemental components and the crystals grow into individual nanowires. Then the virus is baked leaving only the wires. In the future, Dr. Belcher hopes to make materials that are not only selfassembling but self-healing, too. “You design a circuit and if there’s a break, it can heal itself,” she said. Dr. Belcher has jointly founded a company, Semzyme, with Evelyn L. Hu, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of California at Santa Barbara, to try to bring the technology to the marketplace.
A Budding Tumor Unmasked by the Vessels That Feed It (Health Story) Original New York Times Inverted Pyramid Story (642 Words) Page 1. For a tumor to grow, it needs a good supply of blood, which it gets by switching on the body’s process of blood-vessel making, known as angiogenesis. Researchers are trying to develop drugs to inhibit angiogenesis as a way of fighting tumors, but they need ways to make sure the inhibitors, which have so far had mixed results, are effective early in therapy, long before the vessels affect the tumor itself. Page 2. One computer-based imaging technology may have the potential to detect changes in the blood vessels in and around tumors, signaling the power of a particular inhibitor. The technique, an adaptation of conventional
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magnetic resonance imaging, or M.R.I., captures up to a thousand images taken serially of a tumor before, while and after dye is introduced. Software analyzes the images, characterizing what the dye (called a contrast agent) has revealed on its journey into and out of the tumor—leakiness, for example, a hallmark of vessels that are being formed. The technology, called dynamic contrast-enhanced M.R.I., is largely confined to research institutions conducting clinical trials and should be considered experimental, said Dr. Peter L. Choyke, a radiologist and chief of M.R.I. at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. For the past three years, Dr. Choyke has been working on refining the technique in collaboration with Dr. Michael Knopp, a radiologist at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, and other researchers. Dynamic contrast-enhanced M.R.I. is one of several technologies that provide noninvasive images of the creation of new blood vessels in animals and humans. It has shown particular potential in analyzing extremely small blood vessels, Dr. Choyke said, and might therefore one day find wide use in identifying tumors and monitoring therapies that inhibit angiogenesis. The process yields a loop of images that can be viewed one after another. “This process reveals a more complete map of regional vascular properties of a tumor than single snapshots taken with M.R.I. could,” Dr. Choyke said. Characterized by chaotic flow patterns and tortuous paths, blood vessels in tumors are markedly different from those in healthy tissue. Leaks are common. “Tumor vessels are full of holes, and that allows the contrast agent to leak out readily,” Dr. Choyke said. “That’s one of the things we measure.” A judgment on how aggressive a tumor is can be based in part on this permeability, he said. “You can characterize a tumor as highly vascular—that is, amenable to an angiogenic inhibitor,” Dr. Choyke said, in contrast to a lesion that does not have many blood vessels. The process might be helpful in determining whether a biopsy is necessary. Dr. Choyke cited a woman with a high risk for breast cancer whom he had examined recently. “We saw a little area in the breast, a nodule,” he said. “But it didn’t enhance with the contrast agent to suggest that it was a highly permeable vascular area, so it didn’t have a pattern suggesting malignancy.” In such a case, he said, it would be possible to postpone a biopsy. Dr. Knopp said that dynamic contrast-enhanced M.R.I. might prove useful in preventing incorrect biopsy results. “We are recognizing that tumors are not a single entity, but a heterogeneous array of features,” he said. Dynamic contrast-enhanced M.R.I. can help guide where the biopsy is performed. “If you have a bulky tumor, we can show where there is active tumor tissue and areas not as representative of the tumor.”
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In the experimental method described by Drs. Knopp and Choyke in recent papers, a dye is injected and scanning is repeated until about 10 minutes of data have accumulated. Algorithms analyze the images and map how permeable the blood vessels are, how much blood is flowing and the vessels’ volume. Workstations with high-resolution displays can present colorized images of the data in views that create a composite of many scans.
Modified Construction–Integration Narrative (642 Words) Page 1. For a tumor to grow in your body, it needs blood, which tumors obtain from your body’s ability to make blood vessels. Researchers are trying to stop tumors with drugs that stop the growth of blood vessels, and computer images may show if the drugs are working. The process might help in determining whether a surgical biopsy in needed, according to Dr. Peter L. Choyke of the National Institutes of Health. Page 2. Dr. Choyke cited a woman with a high risk for breast cancer whom he had examined recently. “We saw a little area in the breast,” he said. “It didn’t have a pattern suggesting malignancy.” In such a case, Dr. Choyke said, it would be possible to postpone a surgical biopsy. Dr. Michael Knopp at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center said that the computer imaging might prove useful in preventing incorrect biopsy results. “We are recognizing that tumors are not a single entity, but a heterogeneous array of features,” he said. This imaging technology can help guide where the biopsy is performed. “If you have a bulky tumor, we can show where there is active tumor tissue and areas not as representative of the tumor.” The computer images, taken as dye is injected into the body’s tissue can show the journey of the dye into and out of a tumor. Up to one thousand computer images taken before, during and after the dye is introduced into the body can indicate if new bloods vessels are being formed. In the experimental method described by Drs. Knopp and Choyke in recent papers, the dye is injected and scanning is repeated until about 10 minutes of data have accumulated. The images are analyzed for how porous the blood vessels are, how much blood is flowing and the vessels’ volume. High-resolution color images create a movie of many scans. “This process reveals a more complete map of regional vascular properties of a tumor than single snapshots,” Dr. Choyke said. Characterized by chaotic flow patterns, blood vessels in tumors are markedly different from those in healthy tissue. Leaks are common. “Tumor vessels are full of holes, and that
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allows the contrast agent to leak out readily,” Dr. Choyke said. “That’s one of the things we measure.” The technology, called dynamic contrast-enhanced M.R.I. is one of several technologies that provide images of the creation of new blood vessels in animals and humans. The technology has shown particular potential in analyzing extremely small blood vessels, Dr. Choyke said, and might therefore one day find wide use in identifying tumors and monitoring therapies that creation of blood vessels. The technology is not yet in wide use, partly, Dr. Choyke said, because different research groups use different software to analyze their data. He expects a consensus to emerge in the next few years as standard software becomes widely available and research groups move toward a universally accepted way of analyzing the data. Dynamic contrast-enhanced M.R.I. is largely confined to research institutions conducting clinical trials and should be considered experimental, said Dr. Peter L. Choyke. For the past three years, Dr. Choyke has been working on refining the technique in collaboration with Dr. Knopp, at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, and other researchers. “Dynamic enhanced-contrast M.R.I. has the greatest potential—as yet unrealized—to monitor therapy early on,” Dr. Choyke said. He expects that when drugs stop new blood vessels from forming, the M.R.I. will reveal changes in blood vessels that occur before the tumor responds to the changes by shrinking or stabilizing. But Dr. Michael O’Reilly, who did pioneering research with Dr. Judah Folkman at Children’s Hospital in Boston said that even if such monitoring became possible, considerable research would still be needed. Even after studies with the mice are completed, Dr. O’Reilly predicted, it will be difficult to apply the results to people. Note: Reprinted with permission from The New York Times Company.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding The author received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.
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Yaros, R. A., & Cook, A. E. (2010). Tracking explanations in health news: More attention is not always needed for understanding. Paper presented at the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication (Science Communication Interest Group), Denver, CO.
Bio Ronald A. Yaros is an assistant professor of multimedia in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland–College Park. He also directs the Lab for Communicating Complexity Online (http://www.explainmynews.org). His research interests include structures of news for online and mobile technologies and effective explanation of complex issues about science, health, and technology to nonexpert audiences.
