EDL 7510

RESEARCH CRITIQUE
NOTE: A COPY OF THE ARTICLE MUST BE INCLUDED.
Name: Alia Alsulaim

Article Title: The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantage

of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking.

1 pt.

Author(s): Pam A. Muller and Daniel M. Oppenheimer

Name of Journal: Psychological Science
Date of Publication: Apr 23, 2014

Directions: For each item below, put your answer on this

critique form and mark the appropriate number in the article
at the place where you found the necessary information to
give you the answer.
NOTE:
If you cannot find an item in your article, write, Item not
found. DO NOT LEAVE AN ITEM BLANK!
1 pt. Type of research: Please indicate the specific type of research as
discussed in class.
Experimental Nomothetic True
1 pt. Brief statement of problem: (NOTE: In addition to writing the
statement, please mark a #1 at the place in the article where you
found it.)
Thus, we conducted three experiments to investigate whether
taking notes on a laptop versus writing long- hand affects
academic performance, and to explore the potential
mechanism of verbatim overlap as a proxy for depth of
processing.

1 pt. Hypothesis(es) or Research Question(s): State the hypothesis(es) or

research question(s). (NOTE: Mark #2 at the place in your article where
you found the hypothesis(es) or research question(s).)
Hypothesis

1 pt. What is the population? (Mark #3)

the Universities Students.
1 pt. What is the sample size? (Mark #4)
Study 1, participants was 67 students (33 male, 33 female,
unknown) from the Princeton University.
Study 2, participants were students (final N = 151; 35 male)
from the University of California, Los Angeles Anderson
Behavioral Lab.
Study 3, participants were students (final N = 109; 27 male)
from the University of California, Los Angeles Anderson
Behavioral Lab.

1 pt. How was the sample selected? (Mark #4)

Randomly. Not mention on the research, but based on our
discussed on the class, the sample be random when :
1- every one in the population has equal chance in being
including.
2- 2- one selection does not effect the other.
3- No form or condition to participate on the research .
That is applying to the sample. Any students on the
university can be involved.
1 pt. Do you feel the sample is representative of the population?
Explain.
Yes, because the sample was in two different universities that
represent the target population.
1 pt. Dependent variable(s) (Mark #5) Please identify if the article doesnt.
Achievement (taking note performance)
1 pt. Independent variable(s) (Mark #6) Please identify if the article doesnt.
the Method of taking note (laptop, Longhand)

1 pt. What type of data continuous or discrete? (Mark #7) If the article
doesnt specify, what type of data do you think they have?
The article doesnt specify, but the Fig (1,2,3) show Histogram
= flat top and no space between longhand and laptop column,
so it is discrete data.
1 pt. What measurement scale(s): nominal, ordinal, interval or ratio? (Mark
#8) If the article doesnt specify, what scale(s) do you think they have?
The article doesnt specify, but the Fig (1,2,3) show Histogram
= flat top and no space between longhand and laptop column,
so it is a Ratio measurement scale

1 pt. What are the operational definitions? (Mark #9)

Item not found.
1 pt.
Are the procedures described in sufficient detail so that the study
could be repeated? Explain.
Yes, the procedures described in sufficient detail.
RO
O
Control group. Study 1
R O X1 O Treatment 1. Study 2
R O X1 O Treatment 2 . Study 3

1 pt. State major results and conclusions. (Mark #10)

In study 1, the result This study provides initial
experimental evidence that laptops may harm academic
performance even when used as intended. Participants using
laptops are more likely to take lengthier transcription-like
notes with greater verbatim overlap with the lecture. Although
taking more notes, thereby having more information, is
beneficial, mindless transcription seems to offset the benefit of
the increased content, at least when there is no opportunity
for review.

In study 2, the result The intervention did not improve

memory perfor- mance above that for the laptopnonintervention condition, but it was also not statistically
distinguishable from memory in the longhand condition.
However, the intervention was completely ineffective at
reducing verbatim content, and the overall relationship
between verbatim content and negative performance held.
Thus, whereas the effect of the intervention on performance is
ambiguous, any potential impact is unrelated to the
mechanisms explored in this article.

In study 3, the result When participants were unable to

study, we did not see a difference between laptop and
longhand note taking. We believe this is due to the difficulty of
test items after a weeks delay and a subsequent floor effect;
average scores were about one-third of the total points
available. However, when participants had an opportunity to
study, longhand notes again led to superior performance. This
is suggestive evidence that longhand notes may have superior
external- storage as well as superior encoding functions,
despite the fact that the quantity of notes was a strong
positive predic- tor of performance. However, it is also possible
that, because of enhanced encoding, reviewing longhand notes
simply reminded participants of lecture information more
effectively than reviewing laptop notes did.
In three studies, we found that students who took notes on
laptops performed worse on conceptual questions than
students who took notes longhand. We show that whereas
taking more notes can be beneficial, laptop note takers
tendency to transcribe lectures verbatim rather than
processing information and reframing it in their own words is
detrimental to learning.
1 pt. What are the statistical procedures and significance levels of the
results? (Mark #11)
Mean z scored, stander deviation, stander error, n-segma,
predicted and reliability
Significance levels = .89
1 pt. Do the conclusions relate to the hypothesis(es) or research question?
Explain. (Mark #12)

Hypothesis. Because the prior research has focus on two

hypothesis this research become like developing to the prior
researches.
Prior research has focused on two ways in which note taking
can affect learning: encoding and external storage (see
DiVesta & Gray, 1972; Kiewra, 1989). The encoding hypothesis
suggests that the pro- cessing that occurs during the act of
note taking improve learning and retention. The externalstorage hypothesis touts the benefits of the ability to review
material (even from notes taken by someone else).
1 pt. Are the generalizations confined to the population being researched?
(Mark #13)
Yes.

1 pt. Are limitations discussed? What are they? Can you think of any that
were omitted? (Mark #14)
Yes.
In study 1, Two participants were excluded, 1 because he had
seen the lecture serving as the stimulus prior to participation,
and 1 because of a data-recording error.
In study 2, Two participants were removed because of datacollection errors.
In study 3, One hundred forty-two participants completed
Session 1 (presentation), but only 118 returned for Session 2
(testing). Of those 118, 8 participants were removed for not
having taken notes or failing to respond to the test questions,
and 1 was removed because of a recording error.
1 pt. What do the authors suggest for future studies to resolve ambiguities
in the present study or to answer questions raised by the present study?
(Mark #15)

Item not found.