TY  - JOUR
A1  - Isberner, Maj-Britt
A1  - Richter, Tobias
A1  - Maier, Johanna
A1  - Knuth-Herzig, Katja
A1  - Horz, Holger
A1  - Schnotz, Wolfgang
T1  - Comprehending conflicting science-related texts: graphs as plausibility cues
T2  - Instructional Science
N2  - When reading conflicting science-related texts, readers may attend to cues which allow them to assess plausibility. One such plausibility cue is the use of graphs in the texts, which are regarded as typical of ‘hard science’. The goal of our study was to investigate the effects of the presence of graphs on the perceived plausibility and situation model strength for conflicting science-related texts, while including the influence of readers’ domain knowledge and their knowledge about scientific visualization conventions as potential moderators of these effects. In an experiment mimicking web-based informal learning, 77 university students read texts on controversial scientific issues which were presented with either graphs or tables. Perceived plausibility and situation model strength for each text were assessed immediately after reading; reader variables were assessed several weeks prior to the experiment proper. The results suggest that graphs can indeed serve as plausibility cues and thus boost situation model strength for texts which contain them. This effect was mediated by the perceived plausibility of the information in the texts with graphs. However, whether readers use graphs as plausibility cues in texts with conflicting information seems to depend also on their amount of experience with scientific texts and graphs.
KW  - Graphs
KW  - Multiple text comprehension
KW  - Plausibility
KW  - Science text comprehension
Y1  - 2013
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/38610
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-386108
SN  - 0020-4277
SN  - 1573-1952
N1  - Preprint, erschienen in: Instructional Science, Bd. 41.2013, Heft 5, S. 849-872
VL  - 41
IS  - 5
SP  - 849
EP  - 872
PB  - Springer Science + Business Media
CY  - Dordrecht ; Heidelberg [u.a.]
ER  -