Which e-reader is easier to use: iPad, Kindle, or Nook?

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Authors
Jardina, Jo Rain
Advisors
Chaparro, Barbara S.
Issue Date
2012-04-18
Type
Abstract
Keywords
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Citation
Jo Rain Jardina. (2012). Which e-Reader is Easier to Use: iPad, Kindle, or Nook?. -- In Proceedings: 8th Annual Symposium: Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects. Wichita, KS: Wichita State University, p.86
Abstract

Even though more people are beginning to use e-Readers, electronic reading devices, little research exists on the usability of these devices for book reading. This study looks at the usability of three touch-screen e-Readers (iPad, Kindle Fire, and Nook Tablet) for basic book navigation tasks. During the study, participants (N = 16) were asked to complete a series of tasks (e.g., bookmarking a page, highlighting text, etc.) on the three e-Readers, and rate the difficulty of each task. Task completion time and number of taps required to complete each task on each device was also recorded. Participants rated each device on their perception of workload and satisfaction. When they completed all the tasks on all the devices, participants were asked to rank each device on a series of attributes and overall preference. Results revealed no overall “winner” and no significant differences between the devices on perceived workload and satisfaction. Each device proved to have some strengths and weaknesses by task. The Nook was preferred more than the iPad and Kindle for its menu structure, and the iPad was ranked higher than the Kindle and Nook on highlighting and notes. The Kindle was preferred for tasks which required changing text size and text searching. Suggestions are offered for the improvement of future touch screen e-Readers.

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Description
Fifth Place winner of poster presentations at the 8th Annual Symposium on Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects (GRASP) held at the Marcus Welcome Center, Wichita State University, April 18, 2012.
Research completed at the Department of Psychology, Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Publisher
Wichita State University. Graduate School.
Journal
Book Title
Series
GRASP;
v.8;
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DOI
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