A research strategy for text desigbers The role of headings.pdf

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InstructionalScience 14 (1985) 99-155
Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam Printed in the Netherlands
A RESEARCH STRATEGY FOR TEXT DESIGNERS: THE ROLE OF
HEADINGS
JAMES HARTLEY and MARK TRUEMAN
Department of Psychology, University of Keele, Keele, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, U.K.
ABSTRACT
This article describes some of the issues confronting research workers who want to carry out
research on the effects of"access structures" - devices which enable people to gain access to a text
(such as summaries, headings, and numbering systems). Although this paper focusses specifically
on the role of headings, two general points can be made: (1) the literature on any access structure is
diffuse and inconclusive and (2) some order may be gained from the chaos by carrying out a series
of systematic studies which replicate and build upon themselves. A third, more contentious, point
is that we need descriptive and a-theoretical studies first in order to clear the ground for later
theoretical work.
This article presents the results from seventeen experiments on headings which illustrate these
points. The first nine experiments centre on three main variables, (1) the position of headings
(marginal or embedded); (2) the form of headings (statements or questions); and (3) the nature of
the task (free recall, searching unfamiliar text, and retrieval from familiar text). The results showed
that the position of the headings (marginal or embedded) had no effect, but that headings in either
form aided the recall, search and retrieval of information from the text used in these experiments
with 14-15 year old participants.
These experiments were then replicated using a different text in a further four experiments
with 11-12 year old participants. These experiments showed that headings aided l 1-12 year old's
search and retrieval but not their recall from this second text. However, an additional study with
14-15 year olds and the second text showed that headings again aided recall with this group -
suggesting a developmental trend in children's capacity to use headings as recall devices. Finally,
another three experiments tested whether headings in the form of questions helped lower-ability
readers more than headings in the form of statements (a hypothesis which had emerged from both
the preceding and other earlier studies conducted by the authors). In these three studies, however,
no significant differences were found to result from the different forms of heading.
0020 4277/85/$ 03.30 © 1985 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.

100
Contents
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Our experiments: an overview
3.0 Recall Studies
3.1 Experiment One
3.2 Experiment Two
4.0 Search and Retrieval Studies
5.0 Search Studies
5.1 Experiment Three
5.2 Experiment Four
6.0 Retrieval Studies
6.1 Experiment Five
6.2 Experiment Six
7.0 Integrating the Studies
8.0 Recall
8.1 Experiment Seven
9.0 Search
9.1 Experiment Eight
10.0 Retrieval
10.1 Experiment Nine
11.0 Replication Studies: Another Text, Another Population
12.0 Replicating the Recall Studies
12.1 Experiment Ten
12.2 Experiment Eleven
12.3 Experiment Twelve
13.0 Replicating the Search Studies
13.1 Experiment Thirteen
14.0 Replicating the Retrieval Studies
14.1 Experiment Fourteen
15.0 Headings as Questions versus Headings as Statements with Low
Ability Pupils
15.1 Experiment Fifteen
15.2 Experiment Sixteen
15.3 Experiment Seventeen
16.0 Overall Summary and Concluding Remarks

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1.0 Introduction
The research literature on text design is fascinating for many reasons. Some
of the issues go back many years (e.g., the effects of different typefaces, typesizes
and typestyles). Some are much more recent (such as notions like "considerate
text") and some issues get re-named, or re-considered from fresh theoretical
points of view (e.g., "access structures").
The phrase "access structures" was coined by Waller (1979) to describe a
variety of features of text design that help readers to find their way around or to
gain access to complex texts. These devices comprise items such as contents
pages, indexes, summaries, headings, subheadings, table and figure captions,
and various numbering systems (ranging from page to paragraph numbers).
The research on access structures has been discussed in more detail
elsewhere (e.g., Hartley, 1985). Here we may note that, whatever the issue, it is
highly likely that the research on it will be scattered, diffuse, and difficult to
summarise. Different investigators will have pursued the issue in different ways,
they will have used different methodologies, different participants and different
theoretical perspectives. And, in most cases, there will be insufficient studies to
make a meaningful summary of their results. It is hardly surprising, therefore,
that it is difficult for research workers in this field to offer many precise
guidelines to practitioners.
Let us consider these general points in a more specific context. If, as
teachers, researchers or writers, we were to ask about the effects of headings in
text, a number of issues might be raised. We could for instance ask questions
about:
• the presence of headings versus their absence
• the effects of headings on recall or retrieval (or both)
• the position of headings
• the frequency of headings
• the kinds of headings (e.g., questions versus statements; short versus long)
• the kinds of text in which headings might appear (e.g. high versus low
structure; technical versus semi-literary)
• the typographic denotation of different levels of headings
• the effects of headings on immediate and long-term recall
• the effects of age and ability in using headings
• the effects of constructing headings for text we are reading
• and so on.
Unfortunately, if we examined the research literature on these topics we
would find no clear answers to our questions. Panel 1 summarises the research
on headings. It is apparent from Panel 1 that:
• most studies address the topic of the effects of headings on the recall of

102
information after reading the text
• rather fewer studies address any other issues.
Some other points, not apparent from Panel l, are that few investigators have
studied more than three of the issues listed above, and no-one has investigated
any of them systematically. Indeed, many of the studies cited in Panel 1 may be
characterised as "one-off' ones.
So, because of the paucity of experimental studies and their varying
findings, no firm conclusions can be drawn about the value of headings for
instructional text. Different investigators have used different texts, different
kinds of headings, different learner samples, and different ways of testing the
effectiveness of headings. Clearly, no-one is yet in a position to proffer precise
guidelines of how headings in text can best be used.
What seems to be required to solve this impasse is a research strategy that
focusses on carrying out a series of studies, each one of which partly replicates
and partly builds upon the previous one(s) - thus constructing a more solid set of
findings. This article reports the results of carrying out such a research
programme.
In this programme we chose to work with headings and the three most
common questions that people seemed to ask about them at that time (around
1978) - Do they have any effect? Is their position important? Does it matter how
headings are phrased? When we started this research it seemed that these were
important questions although we did not anticipate at the time that they would
lead to quite so many experiments.
2.0 Our Experiments: A General Overview
The research suggests that headings can be used to aid recall (in memory
tasks) and to aid retrieval (in search tasks) but no-one to our knowledge has
examined the effects of headings on both recall and retrieval from the same text.
Similarly, no-one to our knowledge has distinguished between retrieval from
unfamiliar text (i.e., a search task) with retrieval from familiar text (i.e., a
retrieval task). Commentators have suggested that it is easier to retrieve from
text that has marginal headings (as opposed to embedded ones), and previous
research had suggested that headings in the form of questions help less-able
readers (e.g., Hartley et al., 1980, 1981). We therefore planned our experiments
to focus on:
• recall and retrieval (from unfamiliar and familar text);
• the position of headings (marginal versus text embedded); and
• the kind of headings used (questions versus statements).
Figure 1 illustrates the overall - or master plan of our research. We
planned six initial experiments. Experiments 1 and 2 would focus on recall,

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PANEL 1
Experiments on Headings: a Survey of Issues and Studies
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Effects of headings on recall of information
Robinson and Hall (1941)
Christensen and Stordahl (1955)
* Klare et al. (1958)
Snavely (1962)
Landry (1967)
Cole (1977)
Eggan et al. (1978)
* Doctorow et al. (1978)
* Dee-Lucas and DiVesta (1980)
* Hartley et al. (1980)
Brooks et al. (1981)
* Holley et al. (1981)
Jonassen et al. (1981)
Nist and Hogrebe (1984)
Effects of headings on retrieval from familiar text
Charrow and Redish (1980)
Effects of headings on searching unfamiliar text
* Hartley and Burnhill (1976)
* Jonassen and Falk (1980)
Jonassen (1983)
Effects of different frequencies of headings
Effects of different kinds of headings
* Doctorow et al. (1978)
Proger et al. (1970)
Proger et al. (1973)
* Jonassen (1983)
Effects of heading on long-term recall
* Holley et al. (1981)
Effects of headings on readers of different ability

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8.
9.
10.
11.
Effects of instructing readers to use headings
Cole (1977)
Halley et al. (1981)
* Brooks et al. (1981)
* Adams et al. (1982)
* Taylor (1982)
Effects of instructing readers to generate headings
* Doctorow et,al. (1978)
Eggan et al. (1978)
* Dee-Lucas and DiVesta (1980)
Halley et al. (1981)
Effects of heading on preferences for text
* Charrow and Redish (1980)
Effects of the position of headings in text
(no studies located)
Experiments 3 and 4 on search, and Experiments 5 and 6 on retrieval. The
variables explored in Experiments 7, 8 and 9 were dependent upon the outcome
of Experiments 1-6. Experiments 10-14 replicated these studies with a different
passage and with a different age group (11-12 year olds as opposed to 14-15 year
olds) and Experiments 15-17 looked in detail at the effects of different types of
headings with low-ability pupils.
In Experiments 1-9 we used a four page typescript version of a piece of
semi-technical prose as our text material. In Experiments 10-14 we carried out
Recall 1
Expt. I Headings as statements
position varied
Expt. 2 Headings as questions
position varied
Recalt
Expt. 7 Headings as statements versus Expts. 10,11,12 Replication of
headings as questions, position recall studies
controlled
(unfamiliar
text)"]
Search
Expt. 3 Headings as statements |
position varied
Expt. 4 Headings as questions
position varied
Search (unfamiliar
text)
Expt. 8 Headings as statements versus Expt. 13 Replication
of
headings as questlons, position search studies
controlled
Expts. 15,16,17 Effects of headings
as questions vs
headings as
statements with
less-able pupils
Retrieval(famih~r
text) ~]
Expt. 5 Headings as statements |
position varied I Retrieval (familiar text)
Expt. 9 Headings as statements versus Expt. 14 Replication of
Expt. 6 Headings as questions headin~sasquestions, posit]on retrieval studies
position varied controlled
Fig. 1. Aschematicdiagramoftheresearchstrategy. Experiments 7, 8and9followedtheoutcome
of Experiments 1-6. Experiments 10-14 replicated these studies with a different passage and with a
different age group. Experiments 15-17 looked in detail at the effects of different types of heading
with low-ability pupils.

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(text width approx. 12 cms) (text width approx. 16 cms)
Fig. 2. A schematic representation of the conditions used in the studies reported in this article,
replication studies with a second, easier text of roughly the same length. In
Experiments 15-17 we varied these two texts.
Generally speaking, in all of our experiments the participants were
presented with the passages of text in the conditions shown schematically in Fig.
2. (The headings were either in the form of questions or statements, making
possible six versions.) The amount of text was held constant on each page, and
the only thing that varied was the presence or absence of the headings. The
headings were devised in order to indicate the structure of the text (i.e., they
indicated the topics of the subsequent paragraphs).
We attempted to make the semantic content of the statement and the
question form of the headings equivalent but we believed (perhaps naively) that
the question form might indicate better the ensuing content of the text (especially
for less-able readers). The following examples of headings used in the first
passage indicate the nature and the style of the headings used in these
experiments:

t06
• Time spent watching television
How much time do people spend watching television?
• The most popular programmes
What are the most popular programmes?
• Attitudes to BBC programmes
How do people react to BBC programmes?
• Peoples' suggestions for improving television
How do people suggest that television can be improved?
A short-answer test was attached to the back of each of the six versions of
the passage. These test questions did not repeat questions asked in the headings.
As noted above, the text headings indicated the structure of the text (e.g., "How
do people react to BBC programmes?") whereas the test questions were more
specific (e.g., "What percentage of viewers were dissatisfied with BBC 1
programmes?").
In the recall studies the participants were asked to read their passage at their
own speed, and then turn over and answer the test questions. (A recall score was
then derived from their performance.)In the search studies (after a practice task)
the participants were asked to search for the answers to the test questions in the
passage, and to circle the answers on the passage. (The time taken to complete
the task was recorded.) In the retrieval studies (after a practice task) the
participants were asked first to read their passage for a set period of time and
they were then asked to search for the answers to the test questions in the
passage, and to circle the answers on the passage (and the time taken to complete
the task was recorded). A more detailed account of each experiment now
follows.
3.0 Recall Studies
3.1 EXPERIMENT ONE
Aims
The aims of Experiment One were (1) to see if headings written in the form
of statements improved readers' recall of factual information, and (2) to see if the
position of a heading (embedded in the text or placed in the margin) affected
readers' recall of information.
Participants
170 fourth-year comprehensive school pupils (aged between 14 and 15
years) of mixed-ability took part in this enquiry. The pupils were divided by the
school into three groups of ability at English - high, middle and low - and were
taught in separate sets. Pupils in the remedial section of the English department
did not participate.

107
Materials
Booklets in each of the four conditions shown in Fig. 2 (with headings in the
form of statements) were distributed systematically to the participants in two
separate classes by two experimenters on each of two separate days. Each
booklet contained a cover sheet, one version of the passage, and a test-sheet on
the back. The passage used contained approximately 1000 words and was about
television viewing habits in the United Kingdom. It had a Flesch reading ease
score of 55, i.e., it was "fairly difficult" or suitable for 15-17 year olds. The
passage was subdivided into twelve paragraphs, and as a report ofa questionnaire,
it contained a large number of facts and figures. In the headings conditions there
were six headings - approximately one every two paragraphs.
Procedure
The participants were asked to read the passage through once carefully, and
then when they had completed their reading to turn the booklet over and answer
twelve short-answer test questions on the back. They were instructed to leave the
answers blank or to guess at the answers to questions they could not complete
and to go on to the next question.
In order to reduce the possibility of cheating, the participants were told that
four ways of presenting the same passage were being compared, and that the
experiment was concerned with testing the effectiveness of the different versions.
In addition the order of the questions asked on the test-sheet was varied for each
of the four conditions.
The experimental procedure used was that of a four groups design with
different participants in each group.
Results
The results obtained from this enquiry are shown in Table la. Analyses of
sub-groups showed:
• no significant position effects for the headings: participants with marginal
headings (2 = 7.6) performed as well as participants with embedded headings
(~ = 7.5);
• no significant differences between the two control passages: participants with
the longer line-length (2 = 6.8) performed as well as participants with the
shorter one (2 = 6.8).
Accordingly, it was deemed legitimate to pool the results for the headings
groups and for the control groups. When this had been done, a two-way analysis
of variance (presence/absence of headings × sex) was carried out. The main
results indicated:
• an overall conditions effect: participants with headings (2 -- 7.6) did better
than participants without them (x = 6.8) (F= 4.554, df 1,166, p = 0,034);
• no significant sex effects: girls (2 = 7.4) did better than boys (~ = 6.9) but this

108
TABLE Ia
The Results of Experiment 1. (Average recall scores out of 12 with (below) N in each group.
Headings in the form of statements)
Boys Girls Total Overall
Headings Text 7.5 7.4 7.5
23 21 44
7.6
86
Margin 7.2 8.0 7.6
23 19 42
Controls Text 6.3 7.4 6.8
24 18 42
Margin 6.6 7.0 6.8
21 21 42
6.8
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TABLE Ib
The Results of Experiment 1 Expressed in Terms of Ability
Boys Girls Total
High-ability Headings 9.3 9.5 9.4
14 15 29
Controls 8.1 8.3 8.2
12 15 27
Middle-ability Headings 7.3 7.4 7.4
14 16 30
15 15 30
Low-ability Headings 6.0 4.9 5.6
18 9 27
18 9 27
difference was not significant, (F = 2.015, df 1,166, p = 0.158);
• no significant interactions between these variables, (F= 0.455, df 1,166, p =
0.501).
In the light of the data on ability obtained by Hartley et al. 0980) (which

109
suggested that low-ability pupils profit more from headings) the data were next
examined for each of the ability streams in the English department. The data
obtained are shown in Table 1b.
A three-way analysis of variance (ability × presence/absence of headings ×
sex), followed by Scheff6 tests when appropriate, showed:
• a significant ability effect: high-ability participants (2 = 8.8) did significantly
better than those of middle-ability (2 = 7.1) and middle ability participants did
significantly better than those of low-ability (2 = 5.5), (F= 45.94, df2,158, p <
0.001);
• a significant conditions effect: participants with headings did better than
participants without them (F= 6.25, df 1,158, p < 0.02). The gain for headings
for the high-ability participants was 15%, for the middle-ability it was 7% and
for the low-ability it was 6%. These differences were not significant: that is,
there was no significant interaction between the levels of ability and the
presence/absence of headings (F = 0.830, df 2,158, p = 0.438);
• no significant sex effects (F= 0.03, df 1,158, p = 0.856).
These results appear to contradict those found by Hartley et al. (1980) but it
must be remembered that the differential effect with ability found in the earlier
study lay with headings written in the form of questions and not written in the
form of statements (as in this present experiment). Indeed, Hartley et al. (1980)
found that although headings written in the form of statements helped the recall
of their three ability groups, the amount of help was not related to ability.
Conclusions
The results of this experiment indicate a superiority for headings written in
the form of statements but they do not indicate any differential effect regarding
their position. High-ability participants recalled more than low-ability ones, but
there were no significant interactions between ability and the presence or absence
of headings. These findings occurred when the headings were written in the form
of statements: in Experiment 2 we examine the effects of headings written in the
form of questions.
3.2 EXPERIMENT TWO
Aims
The aims of Experiment 2 were (1) to see if headings written in the form of
questions improved reader's recall of factual information, and (2) to see if the
position of a heading (embedded in the text or placed in the margin) affected
reader's recall of information.
Materials
Three versions of the passage on television viewing habits were employed in

1t0
this experiment. They were as follows:
• Headings written in the form of questions, embedded in the text.
• Headings written in the form of questions, placed in the margin.
• A control text, without headings, the same width as the text with marginal
headings (approximately 12 eros).
The same twelve item short-answer test used in Experiment 1 was also used in
this enquiry.
Participants
155 fourth-year comprehensive school pupils (age between 14 and 15 years)
of mixed-ability from a different school took part in this enquiry. They were
divided by the school into three groups of ability at English - high, middle and
low - but taught in mixed-ability groups.
Procedure
The procedure was the same as that used in Experiment One except that on
this occasion three conditions were compared.
Results
The results obtained from this enquiry are shown in Table 2a. Inspection of
these data suggested that it would be legitimate to pool the results from the two
headings conditions, and to compare them with the control group. When this
had been done a two-way analysis of variance (presence/absence of headings ×
sex) was carried out. The main results indicated:
• an overall conditions effect: participants in the headings conditions (2 = 6.5)
recalled significantly more than participants in the control group (2 = 5.8), (F
= 6.28, df 1,151, p = 0.013);
TABLE IIa
The Results of Experiment 2. (Average recall scores out of 12. Headings in the form of ques-
tions)
28 26 54
6.5
104
Margin 6.8 6.1 6.4
2! 29 50
Control Margin 6.2 5.5 5.8 5.8
22 29 51 51

TABLE IIb
111
Boys Girls Total
27 21 48
Control 6.9 6.8 6.8
8 10 18
10 18 28
Control 6.2 5.6 5.8
6 9 15
12 16 28
Control 5.4 4.0 4.6
8 10 18
• a significant sex effect: boys (2 = 6.6) recalled more than girls (2 = 6.0), (F =
5.642, df 1,151, p = 0.019);
• no significant interactions between these variables, (F = 0.054, df 1,151, p =
0.816).
The results were next examined in terms of ability data obtainable from the
school. The recall scores of the three ability groups (high, middle and low) were
calculated. The means obtained are shown in Table 2b.
These data were subjected to a three-way analysis of variance (ability ×
presence/absence of headings × sex) followed by Scheff6 tests when appropriate.
The results indicated:
• a significant ability effect: high-ability participants (2 = 6.9) did significantly
better than those of middle-ability (2 = 6.0) and middle-ability participants
did significantly better than those of low-ability (2 = 5.5), (F= 9.223, df2,143,
p < 0.001);
• a significant conditions effect: participants with headings did better than
participants without headings in each of the levels of ability (with the
exception of high-ability girls), (F-- 4.876, df 1.143, p = 0.029);
• a significant sex effect: boys did significantly better than girls in each of the
levels of ability (except for low-ability boys in the headings condition), (F =
4.363, df 1,143, p = 0.039);

112
no significant interactions between these three variables: nonetheless the gain
for the high-ability participants was 2%, for the middle-ability it was 5% and
for the low-ability it was 33%.
Conclusions
The results of this experiment indicate a superiority for headings written in
the form of questions, but they do not indicate any differential effect regarding
their position. High-ability participants recalled more than low-ability ones but
there were no clear interactions between ability and the presence of headings.
There were two main differences between the findings reported for this
experiment and those for Experiment One.
1. In this experiment the overall scores (ave. 2 = 6.3) are lower than those
reported in Experiment 1 (ave. 2 = 7.2). It is likely that this result reflects
differences between the school populations used.
2. In this experiment the percentage gain for headings written in the form of
statements was 2% for high-ability pupils, 5% for middle-ability and 33% for
low-ability. In Experiment One the figures were 15%, 7% and 6%, respectively.
Thus this experiment (whilst not producing significant interactions) does
seem to support the findings of Hartley et al. (1980) and Hartley et al. (1981)
concerning the greater effects of headings written in the form of questions with
low-ability participants.
Accordingly, in planning the third experiment in this series we wished to
compare directly the effects on recall of headings written in the form of
statements with those written in the form of questions. In the light of the results
obtained in Experiments 1 and 2, it seemed reasonable to pursue this issue with
headings in one position - embedded in the text. However, before we could
proceed in this way, we felt it was first necessary to examine the effects of the
position of headings on readers' ease of search and retrieval from the passage.
4.0 Search and Retrieval Studies
Some Problems
Two previous studies that examined the effectiveness of headings as aids to
search and retrieval (Hartley and Burnhill, 1976; Charrow and Redish, 1980)
both confounded the presence or absence of headings with other typographical
and text changes, and therefore cannot be counted as "pure" studies of headings.
In addition, Hartley and Burnhill asked students to search for material in text
they had not seen before, whereas Charrow and Redish instructed their
participants to read through the passages under consideration before asking
them to retrieve information from it. Accordingly, we decided to study the effects
of headings on retrieval in both ways, and not to confound the issue with other
variables.

113
In order to measure the effectiveness of headings on search and retrieval it is
necessary to measure how long it takes participants to find/retrieve material
from the text. There seem to be a number of strategies for doing this (such as
working with individuals and timing them separately, or group methods
involving self-timing and/or display clocks). We decided that it was best to keep
things simple in a classroom situation. We planned a situation where one of the
experimenters would write a number on the blackboard, and then change this
number at regular intervals (e.g., every 30 seconds). The participants in the
experiment would be instructed to write down the number showing at the start of
the experiment and the number showing when they had completed their search
task. The numbers would be presented in random order to minimise cheating.
Pilot Studies
We felt it necessary to try out the viability of this approach, so we carried
out two pilot studies, one using a search task with unfamiliar text and one using
retrieval with familiar text.
In order to accustom participants to the situation we devised a short
practice situation. A paragraph of information on the life of Florence
Nightingale was used, together with three questions. In the first pilot study 20
participants (fourth-year pupils) first read a question, found the answer to the
question in the paragraph, circled it, and then did the next question. In the
second study 26 fourth-years first read the paragraph and then circled the
answers to the questions in order. This practice paragraph was presented without
headings.
After completing the practice task, the participants repeated the task with
the main passage on television viewing habits - in one of the usual three
conditions (text headings, marginal headings, and control). The participants
were asked to record the time they started and the time they finished the search
task in the first pilot study, and the time they started reading, finished reading
and completed the retrieval task in the second study. In both studies the
participants were asked to find the answers to six questions.
Results of the Pilot studies
The method of timing worked well and presented no difficulties. The results
obtained, however, indicated no differences between the times taken to find
information in the passages with or without heading in both of the pilot studies.
In view of these results (which we recognised were clearly limited by the
small sample size in each study) we decided to make a number of changes to our
procedure. These changes were informative in that they suggested - indirectly -
some of the factors that might affect the effectiveness of headings as tools to aid
retrieval. The changes were as follows:

114
• The practice sheet was re-written. It contained a new topic (spiders), it was
longer and the number of practice questions was increased from 3 to 5.
• Three versions of the practice passage were prepared- one with text headings,
one with marginal headings and one without headings, and these were
attached to the appropriate passages of the main experiment.
• The headings in the practice passages were written to match closely the search
questions asked. Thus, e.g., a heading was "The colour of spiders" and the
question was "What colour are spiders that get trapped in the bath?"
• Similarly, each of the headings in the main passage was made to reflect more
clearly the phraseology of the search questions. Thus, e.g., the heading "The
favourite programmes" became "The most popular kind of programmes" for
the search question "What is the most popular kind of programme?".
• The number of search questions for the main task was increased from 6 to 12
(i.e., we used the same questions as we had used in the recall studies).
• Finally, accuracy was stressed by example. In the practice passage one
question asked how many legs has a spider? The passage reported that insects
have six, but spiders have eight. Pupils who circled six were reminded that
they needed to read the passage carefully in order to ensure they circled the
correct information. Similarly, other practice questions demanded careful
reading of the text to obtain the correct answer.
Following these changes, we then carried out the series of search and
retrieval studies which, in this report, we shall call Experiments 3, 4, 5 and 6.
5.0 Search Studies
5.1 EXPERIMENT THREE
Aims
The aims of Experiment Three were (I) to see if headings written in the form
of statements helped participants to find information in text they had not seen
before, and (2) to see if the position of such headings (marginal or embedded in
the text) affected the readers' search times.
Materials (i) Practice passage
Three versions of a (one-page) practice passage containing four paragraphs
on the topic of spiders (based on Whitlock, 1974) were prepared as follows:
• Headings written in the form of statements embedded in the text
(approximately one per paragraph).
• Headings written in the form of statements placed in the margin.
statements.

I15
A cover sheet for the practice passage explained the procedure to be used and
listed five questions which were to be used in the practice search task.
Materials (ii) The experimental passage
Three versions of the passage on television viewing habits were again used in
this experiment. In this enquiry the headings were in the form of statements and
only one control passage was used (the one with the shorter line-length).
The Search Questions
The twelve item short-answer test used in Experiments I and 2 was modified
for use in this experiment. Students were instructed to circle on the passage the
answer to the questions.
Participants
Approximately 170 fourth-year comprehensive school pupils (aged
between 14 and 15 years) of mixed-ability from a third, different, school took
part in this enquiry. They were divided by the school into three groups of ability
at English - high, middle and low - and were taught in separate sets.
Procedure
Booklets containing the practice and the experimental passages were
distributed systematically to the participants in each of six separate classes. The
participants first did the practice task as a class exercise, i.e., they took each
practice question in turn, and looked for and circled the answer on the practice
passage. The need for accuracy was pointed out and explained, and so too was
the requirement to "circle just that bit of the text that gives the answer".
After completing the practice passage, the participants were told about the
need for timing the experiment, and how this was to be done. Participants were
requested to complete a "time-of-starting-box" on the front cover, and, when
they had finished searching for the answers to the twelve questions, a "time-of-
finishing-box" below it. The participants were asked to signal (by raising their
hand) when they had finished in order that one of the experimenters could check
that they had recorded correctly the time of finishing. The order of the twelve
questions for the search task was varied for each of the three conditions to
minimise cheating, and the participants were asked to search for the answer to
each question in order.
Results
The data were first examined for accuracy. 143 pupils were correct.
Nineteen pupils made one error, four made two errors, and three made more
than two errors. With such high accuracy the results from all 169 participants
were included in the analyses of the time-data. The results for the time-data are

116
TABLE IIIa
The Results of Experiment 3. (Average search time (min.) to find the answers to 12 questions
about unfamiliar text. Headings in the form of statements)
Text 13.2 13.2 13.2
31 26 57
13.0
111
Headings
Margin 13.3 12.3 12.8
29 25 54
Control Margin 15.8 14.0 15.0 15.0
32 26 58 58
TABLE IIIb
Boys Girls Total
19 23 42
Control 11.2 12.3 11.8
11 12 23
22 12 34
Control 15.4 15.0 15.2
10 7 17
19 16 35
Control 20.8 15.9 18.9
11 7 18
shown in Table 3a.
Inspection of these data suggested that it would be legitimate to pool the
results from the two headings conditions and to compare them with the control
group. When this had been done a two-way analysis of variance
(presence/absence of headings X sex) was carried out. The main results
indicated:

117
• an overall conditions effect: participants in the headings conditions found the
answers to the questions significantly faster (2 = 13.0 min.) than participants
in the control group (2 = 15.0 min.), (F = 7.91, df 1,165 p < 0.006);
• no significant sex effects (F= 1.95, df 1,165, p = 0.164);
• no significant interactions between conditions and sex (F= 0.867, df 1,165, p
= 0.353).
The results were next examined in terms of the ability groups operating in
the school. The means obtained are shown in Table 3b. These data were
subjected to a three-way analysis of variance (ability × presence/absence of
headings × sex). The results indicated:
• a significant ability effect: high-ability participants found information
significantly faster (2 = 10.9 min.) than middle-ability (2 = 13.9 rain.) and
low-ability participants (2 = 16.9 min.) and middle-ability participants were
significantly faster than the low-ability participants (F = 42.84, df 2,157, p <
0.001);
• a significant conditions effect (F = 12,96, df 1,157, p < 0.001);
• no significant sex effect (F = 0.745, df 1,157, p = 0.389);
• no significant interactions.
Conclusions
The results of this experiment indicated a superiority for headings (written
in the form of statements) but they did not indicate any differential effect
regarding their position. High-ability participants searched faster than low-
ability ones, but there were no interactions between ability and the
presence/absence of headings. The percentage gains for the three ability groups
were as follows: high-ability 14%, middle-ability 15% and low-ability 19%. To
test whether these findings would be replicated with headings in the form of
questions we next carried out Experiment 4.
5.2 EXPERIMENT FOUR
Aim
The aim of this experiment was to replicate Experiment 3 using headings
written in the form of questions instead of headings written in the form of
statements.
Materials
The same materials that were used in Experiment 3 were used in this
experiment except that the headings in the practice and experimental passages
were written in the form of questions.

118
TABLE IVa
The Results of Experiment 4. (Average search time (min.) to find the answers to 12 questions
about unfamiliar text. Headings in the form of questions)
16 19 35
11.9
69
Margin 12.8 11.0 12.0
18 16 34
Control Margin 13.2 13.6 13.4 13.4
16 18 34 34
TABLE IVb
Boys Girls Total
16 21 37
Control 10.0 12.3 11.4
7 11 18
18 14 32
Control 15.6 15.5 15.6
9 7 16
Participants
Approximately 115 fourth-year comprehensive school pupils as before (but
from a fourth school) took part in this enquiry. There were two high-ability
classes, one middle, and two (small) low-ability ones. These pupils were grouped
in terms of mathematical ability, and taught in separate sets.
Procedure
The procedure was the same as that used in Experiment 3. Participants who
made more than three errors (N = 5) were excluded from the analyses of
time-data.

119
Results
The results from this enquiry are shown in Table 4a. Inspection of these
data suggested that it would be legitimate to pool the results from the two
headings conditions and to compare them with the control group. When this
had been done a two-way analysis of variance (presence/absence of headings
× sex) was carried out. The main results indicated:
• an overall conditions effect: participants in the headings conditions found
the answers to the questions significantly faster (~ = 11.8 min.) than
participants in the control group (2 = 13.4 min.), (F-- 4.04, df 1,99, p <
0.05);
• no significant sex effect (F= 0.176, df 1,99, p = 0.676);
• no significant interaction (F = 0.465, df 1,99, p = 0.497).
The results were next examined in terms of the mathematics ability
grouping data provided by the school. The results from the two high-ability
classes were combined and compared with those from the three lower-ability
classes. The means obtained are shown in Table 4b.
presence/absence of headings × sex). The results indicated:
• a significant ability effect: the high-ability participants found information
significantly faster (~ --- 10.8 min.) than the low-ability participants (~ = 14.1
rain.), (F = 25.521, df 1,95, p < 0.001);
• a significant conditions effect (F-- 4.833, df 1,95, p < 0.03);
• no significant interactions.
Conclusions
The results reported in this experiment replicated almost exactly those
found in Experiment 3. There was a superiority for headings (written in the form
of questions) but no differential effect regarding their position. High-ability
participants searched faster than low-ability ones but there were no interactions
between ability and the presence or absence of headings. Once again, however,
the low-ability participants gained more from the headings (16%) than did the
high-ability ones (9%).
6.0 Retrieval Studies
6.1 EXPERIMENT FIVE
Aims
The aims of Experiment 5 were (1) to see if headings, written in the form of
statements, helped participants to retrieve information from a text which they

120
had just previously read and were thus, to some extent, familiar with; and (2) to
see if the position of such headings (marginal or embedded in the text) affected
the participants' speed of retrieval.
Materials
The same materials that were used in Experiments 3 and 4 were also used in
this experiment with one or two slight modifications. (See procedure.) The
number of search questions for the main passages was reduced from 12 to 10 to
reduce the time taken to complete the experiment.
Participants
from a fifth school) took part in this enquiry. There was one high-ability class,
two middle-ability ones, and one of low-ability.
Procedure
Booklets containing practice and experimental passages were distributed as
before. In this experiment, however, participants first read the practice passage
and then found the answers for the practice questions in a class-group exercise.
Following this they were then asked to read their respective experimental
passages for a period of six minutes. They were informed after four minutes had
elapsed that two minutes remained, and they were instructed that, ifthey finished
in the time available, they should look over their passage.
When the reading period was completed, it was explained to the
participants how searching for answers to the questions would be timed. The
participants were asked to complete a "time-of-starting-box" (at the top of the
search list) and to complete a "time-of-finishing-box, (at the bottom) when they
had completed the task. They were asked to signal (by raising their hands) when
they had finished so that one of the experimenters could check that they had
done everything correctly. Again the participants were asked to search for the
answers to the questions in order. These instructions took approximately three
minutes to give, so that there was this period of delay between reading the text
and searching it in order to find the answers to the questions. In this experiment
the numbers on the blackboard were changed every 20 seconds (instead of every
30 seconds as in the previous experiments).
Again, participants who made more than three errors (N= 2) were excluded
from the analyses of the time-data.
Results
The experimental results are summarised in Table 5a. As in previous studies
inspection of this table suggests that it would be legitimate to pool the data for
the two headings conditions and to compare them with the control group. A

121
TABLE Va
The Results of Experiment 5. (Average retrieval time (min.) to find
10 questions about familiar text. Headings in the form of statements)
the answers to
19 14 33
8.0
67
Margin 8.0 7.4 7.8
20 14 34
Control Margin 9.9 10.5 10.2 10.2
19 14 33 33
TABLE Vb
Boys Girls Total
10 10 2O
Control 8.3 9.3 8.9
4 5 9
21 13 34
Control 9.5 9.2 9.4
11 7 18
8 5 13
Control 12.6 18.0 14.4
4 2 6
two-way analysis of variance (presence/absence of headings × sex) was
employed. The results indicated:
• an overall conditions effect: participants in the headings groups retrieved the
answers to the questions significantly faster (2 -- 8.0 min.) than those in the
control group (2 = 10.2 min.) (F = 14.2, df 1,96, p. < 0.001);
• no significant interaction (F = 0.462, df 1,96, p = 0.492).

122
The results were next examined in terms of the school-based ability
groupings. As noted above there was one high-ability class, two middle-ability
ones, and one low-ability one. The means obtained are shown in Table 5b.
The data were subjected to a three-way analysis of variance (ability ×
presence/absence of headings × sex). The results showed:
• a significant ability effect (F = 31.4, df 2,88, p < 0.001): the high-ability
participants (2 = 7.3 min.) and the middle-ability participants (2 = 8.2 min.)
both retrieved information significantly faster than the low-ability ones (2 =
12.0 rain.) (Scheff6 test p < 0.01);
• a significant conditions effect (F = 25.2, df 1,88, p < 0.001);
• a significant sex × ability interaction (F = 5.49, df 2,88, p < 0.006) (a
consequence of the poorer performance of the low-ability girls);
• no other significant interactions between these variables.
Conclusions
The results of this experiment showed a superiority for headings (written in
the form of statements) in a retrieval task, but there was no indication of any
position effect. High and middle-ability participants searched faster than low-
ability ones but there were no interactions between ability and the presence or
absence of headings. The percentage gain for the three groups was as follows:
high-ability 35%, middle-ability 25% and low-ability 32%.
6.2. EXPERIMENT SIX
Aim
The aim of this experiment was to replicate Experiment 5 using headings
written in the form of questions instead of headings written in the form of
statements.
Materials
The same materials that were used in Experiment 5 were used in the
experiment, except that the headings in the practice and the experimental
passages were written in the form of questions.
Participants
from a sixth school) took part in this enquiry. There were two high-ability
English classes, one middle-ability, and two low-ability ones.
Procedure
The procedure was the same as that used in Experiment 5 except that the

TABLE Via
The Results of Experiment 6. (Average retrieval time (min.) to
10 questions about familiar text. Headings in the form of questions)
123
find the answers to
12 21 33
7.5
69
Margin 7.3 7.4 7.4
13 23 36
Controls Margin 8.8 9.0 8.9 8.9
15 19 34 34
TABLE VIb
Boys Girls Total
11 20 31
Control 7.7 6.5 7.0
7 9 16
14 24 38
Control 9.7 11.2 10.5
8 10 18
high-ability pupils were given five minutes to read the passage, the middle-ability
six minutes, and the low-ability seven minutes. Participants who made more
than three errors in finding the answers to the questions (N = 6) were excluded
from the analyses of the time-data.
Results
The results obtained are summarised in Table 6a. As before, inspection of
these data suggested that it would be legitimate to pool the data for the two
headings conditions and to compare them with the control group. A two-way
analysis of variance (presence,/absence of headings X sex) was employed. The
results showed:
• an overall conditions effect: participants in the headings groups retrieved the

124
answers to the questions significantly faster (2 = 7.5 rain.) than those in the
control group (2 = 8.9 rain.), (F = 6.11, df 1,99, p < 0.015);
• no significant sex effect (F = 0.13, df 1,99 p < 0.717);
• no significant interactions (F-- 0.21, df 1,99, p = 0.646).
The data were next examined in terms of the ability groupings used by the
school. The results from the two higher-ability classes were combined and
compared with those obtained from the three lower-ability ones. The means
obtained are shown in Table 6b.
presence/absence of headings × sex). The results indicated:
• a significant ability effect: higher-ability participants retrieved information
more quickly (2 = 6.3 rain.), than lower-ability ones (2 = 9.1 min.), (F = 34.53,
df 1,95, p < 0.001);
• no significant interactions between these variables.
Conclusions
The results of this experiment replicated almost exactly those of
Experiment 5. Again headings (written in the form of questions) aided retrieval,
but there was no indication of a position effect. The gain for the high-ability
participants was 17% and for the low-ability ones it was 24%, but this interaction
was not significant.
7.0 Integrating the Studies
The results from the first six experiments were clearcut. Headings
helped recall, search and retrieval from unfamiliar and familiar text. These
findings occurred with headings written in the form of statements or questions,
and with embedded or marginal headings. In addition there was some indication
that headings written in the form of questions were more helpful for less-able
participants.
Because the results in all six experiments showed that the position of the
headings had no clear effect, the way was now clear for us to repeat our studies
without considering this variable. This meant that we could proceed to compare
headings as statements with headings as questions using either embedded or
marginal headings. We chose to use embedded headings on the grounds of
cost-effectiveness.
Experiments 7, 8 and 9 thus replicated the previous studies on recall, search
and retrieval respectively, but in each case attention was now focussed on the
effects of different kinds of headings. In addition, the effects of the ability of the
participants was also monitored.

125
8.0 Recall
8.1 EXPERIMENT SEVEN
Aim
The aim of this experiment was to compare the effects on recall of headings
written in the form of statements with headings written in the form of questions
when both forms of the headings were embedded in the text.
Materials
Three versions of the passage on television-viewing habits were employed in
this experiment. They were as follows:
• Headings written in the form of statements, embedded in the text.
• A control text, without headings, the same width as the texts with the
embedded headings.
The same twelve item short-answer recall test used in Experiments 1 and 2 was
also used in this enquiry.
Participants
122 fourth-year comprehensive school pupils of mixed-ability took part in
this enquiry. These pupils were divided by the school into two high-ability, two
middle-ability and two low-ability classes, and taught in separate groups.
Procedure
The procedure was the same as that used in Experiments 1 and 2. The
participants were asked to read through the passages once carefully, and then,
when they had completed their reading, to turn over the booklet and answer the
test questions on the back. The order of the questions was varied for each of the
three conditions in order to minimise cheating.
Results
The results obtained from this enquiry are shown in Table 7a. A two-way
analysis of variance (conditions × sex) showed:
• an overall conditions effect (F = 4.78, df 2,116, p < 0.01): participants with
headings in the form of questions (2 = 7.7) and participants with headings in
the form of statements (2 = 7.3) both recalled significantly more information
than did participants in the control group without headings (2 = 6.5).
(Dunnett's t test, p < 0.01 and p < 0.05 respectively.) The difference between
the performance of participants with headings in the form of questions (2 =
7.7) and with headings in the form of statements (x = 7.3) was not significant
(Scheff6 test);

126
TABLE VIIa
The Results of Experiment 7. (Average recall scores out of 12. Embedded headings)
Headings as statements 7.6 7.0 7.3
23 19 42
7.5
83
Headings as questions 7.9 7.5 7.7
22 19 41
Control (no headings) 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5
21 18 39 39
TABLE VIIb
The Results of Experiment 7 in Terms of Ability
Boys Girls Total
High-ability Headings as statements 8.1 7.5 7.9
11 ? 18
9 6 15
Control 6.5 7.4 6.9
10 7 17
Middle-ability Headings as statements 7.3 7.6 7.5
7 7 14
9 7 16
Control 6.6 6.8 6.7
8 6 14
Low-ability Headings as statements 6.9 5.5 6.2
5 5 10
4 6 10
Control 6.3 4.9 5.4
3 5 8

127
• no significant interaction between these variables (F = 0.36, df 2,116, p =
0.702).
The results were next examined in terms of the ability groupings used by the
school. The recall scores of the three ability groups were calculated, and the
results are shown in Table 7b. These data were subjected to a three-way analysis
of variance (ability × conditions × sex), followed by Scheff6 tests when
appropriate. The analysis indicated:
• a significant ability effect (F= 6.79, df2,104, p < 0.002): Scheff6 tests showed
that both the high-ability participants (~ -- 7.6) and the middle-ability
participants (x = 7.4) recalled significantly more information than the low-
ability participants (2 = 6.2), but that there was no significant difference
between the recall of the high and middle-ability participants;
• a significant conditions effect (F= 5.59, df 2,104, p < 0.005);
• no significant sex effect (F= 0.33, df 1,104, p -- 0.569);
• no significant interactions between these variables.
The percentage gain from headings for the various ability groups for headings
written in the form of statements was (high-ability) 15%, (middle-ability) 12%
and (low-ability) 15%. For headings in the form of questions these percentages
were 17%, 16% and 26%, respectively.
Conclusions
The results of this experiment replicated those found in Experiments 1 and
2. Headings, whether written in the form of statements or questions, significantly
improved recall. In this experiment these effects were shown to be equally
effective for both types of heading. As in Experiments 1 and 2, there was no
significant interaction between the different kinds of headings and the ability of
the participants but, once again, there was some indication that the gain was
larger for low-ability participants with headings written in the form of questions.
9.0 Search
9.1 EXPERIMENT EIGHT
Aim
The aim of this experiment was to compare the effects on search time of
headings written in the form of statements with headings written in the form of
questions when both forms of headings were embedded in unfamiliar text.
Materials
The same practice and experimental passages used in Experiments 3 and 4

128
were utilised in this experiment. Three versions of the passages were prepared as
follows:
• A control text without headings, the same width as the above passages.
The search task posing ten questions (used in Experiments 5 and 6) was again
used in this experiment.
Participants
this enquiry. The pupils were taught in mixed-ability classes. Edinburgh Verbal
Reasoning Scores (collected a year previously by the school) were available for
167 of these pupils.
Procedure
participants first completed the practice task before doing the main one. Each
individual then searched a passage (without reading it first) in order to find and
circle the answers to the ten search questions. The order of the search questions
was varied for each of the three different conditions in order to minimise
cheating.
Results
The data were first examined for accuracy. 100 pupils made no errors, 47
made one error, 21 made two errors, six made three errors, and eleven made
more than three errors. The results of these last eleven pupils were discarded.
The results for the search times obtained in this enquiry are shown in Table
8a. A two-way analysis of variance (conditions × sex) showed:
• an overall conditions effect (F= 6.59, df2,168, p < 0.002): participants with
headings in the form of questions (2 = 10.5 min.) and participants with
headings in the form of statements (2 = 10.8 min.) both searched the text
significantly faster than participants without headings (2 = 12.6 min.).
(Dunnett's t test: p < 0.01 in both cases.) The difference between the
performance of the participants with headings in the form of questions (2 =
10.5) and with headings in the form of statements (2 = 10.8) was not
significant (Scheff6 test);
• no significant sex effect (F= 2.04, df 1,168, p = 0.155);
0.703).
The results were next examined in terms of the ability data provided by the
school. The 167 pupils for whom the Edinburgh Verbal Reasoning Scores were
available were divided into three roughly equal-sized ability groups: high (N =

TABLE VIIIa
The Results of Experiment 8. (Average search times
10 questions with unfamiliar text)
(rain.)
129
to retrieve the answers to
27 31 58
10.6
117
10.8 10.2 10.5
26 33 59
12.8 12.5 12.6 12.6
27 30 57 57
Headings as questions
Control (no headings)
TABLE VIIIb
Boys Girls Total
High-ability Headings as statements 8.2 7.8 8.0
8 12 20
8 13 21
Control 9.2 9.8 9.5
6 6 12
Middle-ability Headings as statements 10.5 12.2 11.6
5 9 14
10 11 21
Control 12.4 12.2 12.3
8 11 19
12 9 21
8 8 16
Control 14.4 13.9 14.2
12 11 23

130
53), middle (N = 54), and low (N = 60). The mean search times taken by these
groups in each of the three experimental conditions were calculated, and these
are shown in Table 8b.
The search times were analysed in a three-way analysis of variance (ability ×
conditions X sex), followed by Scheff6 tests where appropriate. The results
indicated:
• a significant ability effect (F = 39.67, df 2,149, p < 0.001): Scheff6 tests
showed that the high-ability participants searched significantly faster (2 = 8.5
min.) than the middle-ability participants (2 = 11.4 min.) who, in turn,
searched significantly faster than the low-ability ones (2 = 13.3 rain.) (both
tests, p < 0.01);
• no significant interaction between these variables. The percentage gain for the
various ability groups for headings written in the form of statements was
(high-ability) 19%, (middle-ability) 6%, and (low-ability) 15%. For headings
in the form of questions these percentages were 12%, 16%, and 7%
respectively.
Conclusions
4. Headings, whether written in the form of statements or questions, significantly
improved search time. In this experiment these effects were shown to be equally
effective for both types of heading. Again, as in Experiments 3 and 4, there were
no significant interactions between the different kinds of heading and the ability
of the participants. In this experiment, however, unlike any of the previous ones
with headings in the form of questions, there were no data to suggest that the
questions gave greater help to the less-able participants.
10.0 Retrieval
10.1 EXPERIMENT NINE
Aim
The aim of this experiment was to compare the effect on retrieval time of
headings written in the form of statements with headings written in the form of
questions when both forms of headings were embedded in familiar text.
Materials
The same practice and experimental passages used in Experiments 5 and 6
were utilised in this experiment. Three versions of the passages were prepared as
follows:

131
• A control text, without headings, the same width as the above passages.
The same search task posing ten questions as used in Experiments 5, 6 and 8 was
used in this enquiry.
Participants
this enquiry. These pupils were divided by the English Department of the school
into two main ability bands, a high-ability and a low-ability one. There were
three classes in each band, each taught in separate groups.
Procedure
participants first completed the practice task before doing the main one. Each
individual then searched a passage (after having first read it) in order to find and
circle the answers to the ten search questions. In this experiment both ability
groups were given six minutes to read the text before searching for the required
information. The order of the search questions was varied for each of the three
different conditions in order to minimise cheating.
Results
The data were first examined for accuracy. Participants who had made
more than three errors in retrieving the answers to the questions ( N= 3) were
excluded from the analysis of the time data.
The results for the retrieval times obtained from this enquiry are shown in
Table 9a. A two-way analysis of variance (conditions × sex) showed:
TABLE IXa
The Results of Experiment 9. (Average retrieval time (min.) to find answers to questions with
familiar text)
22 25 47
7.8
92
21 24 45
Control (no headings) 8.1 9.8 9.0 9.0
22 24 46 46

132
TABLE IXb
The Results of Experiment 9 Expressedin Terms of Ability
Boys Girls Total
10 17 27
High-ability
11 16 27
10 15 25
12 8 20
10 8 18
Controls 8.3 12.6 10.1
12 9 21
• an overall (non-significant) conditions effect (F = 2.90, df 2,132, p < 0.06).
Participants in the control group took 9.0 rain. to retrieve the information
compared with 8.1 and 7.5 min. respectively for the headings as questions and
headings as statements groups;
0.283).
The results were next examined in terms of the ability groupings used by the
school. The retrieval times of the three high-ability classes were combined and
compared with those of the three low-ability classes in a three-way analysis of
variance (ability × conditions × sex).
The results indicated:
• a significant ability effect (F = 26.72, df 1,126, p < 0.001): the high-ability
participants retrieved information significantlyfaster (2 -- 7.2 min.) than the
low-ability ones (2 -- 9.5 min.);
• a significant conditions effect (F= 3.21, df2,126, p < 0.044): the headings as
statements group retrieved information significantly faster than the control
group (Dunnett's t test p < 0.05) but there was no significant difference
between the performance of the control and the headings as questions groups;
• a significant sex effect (F= 3.92, df 1,126, p < 0.05): boys retrieved informa-
tion significantly faster (2 = 7.9 rain.) than girls (2 = 8.4 min.);

133
a significant sex × ability interaction (F = 10.23, df 1,126, p < 0.002): a
consequence of the poorer performance of the low-ability girls;
no other significant interactions between these variables. The percentage
gain for the ability groups with headings written in the form of statements was
(high-ability) 21% and (low-ability) 15%. The percentage gain for the ability
groups with headings written in the form of questions was (high-ability) 14%
and (low-ability) 5%.
Conclusions
The results of this experiment replicatect those found in Experiments 5 and
6, except that they were not so clearcut. Nonetheless, participants with headings
(whether they were written in the form of statements or questions) did better than
participants without them. Again, as in Experiments 5 and 6, there were no
significant interactions between the different kinds of headings and the ability of
the participants, but (unlike Experiment 6) there was no indication that headings
written in the form of questions helped low-ability participants.
U.O Replication Studies - Another Text: Another Population
Summarizing once again, the results so far suggest that headings aid recall,
search and retrieval with the passage and participants used in the enquiries so far.
The position of the headings (marginal or embedded), the kinds of headings
(questions or statements), and differences between the sexes have not shown
themselves to be important.
Whilst these findings are clear, it may well be that they are restricted to the
passage and the participants used to date. We next wished to see whether we
could replicate our findings, using a different passage, and a different popula-
tion.
To do this we adapted a second passage, entitled "The Life of Louis Braille"
from a text provided by Schonell et al. (1967). The text was approximately the
same length as the television passage (i.e., approximately 1,000 words or three
and a half sides of one and a half spaced typescript). The Flesch Reading Ease
score for Louis Braille was 84 (i.e., "fairly easy") and it was thus suitable for 11
year olds whereas the Flesch score for the television passage was 55 (i.e., "fairly
difficult"). The Louis Braille passage contained more narrative and less facts
than the television passage and is perhaps best described as a semi-literary text.
Six versions of the Louis Braille passage were prepared for use in subse-
quent experiments. These were:
• one with marginal headings in the form of statements
• one with marginal headings in the form of questions
• one without headings, but with text the same width as the above

134
• one with embedded headings in the form of statements
• one with embedded headings in the form of questions
• one without headings, but with the text the same width as the above.
The passage was subdivided into 21 paragraphs, and there were ten head-
ings. The headings were devised by the authors with the aid of two colleagues
who were simply asked - "If you had to insert headings in this text, what would
you write and where would you put them?"
A ten item short-answer factual recall test was constructed to follow each
version of the passage. As with the television passage, the test items were specific
ones (which assisted the search and retrieval tasks), and the questions were not
the same as those used for the headings (in the question format) which were more
general.
The passages and questions were tried out in a pilot study (with thirty I0-11
year old pupils) to cheek for any ambiguities or difficulties and one or two minor
modifications were made to the text and the wording of the test questions.
We thus set out to replicate our recall, search and retrieval studies using this
new passage with 11-12 year old participants. In these studies, however, we did
not analyse the results in terms of sex differences, nor did we always contrast
headings in the margin with headings embedded in the text, or headings in the
form of statements with headings in the form of questions.
12.0 Replicating the Recall Studies
12.1 EXPERIMENT TEN
Aim
The aim of this experiment was to replicate the recall experiments described
above. The specific aim was to see if headings written in the form of statements
would significantly improve the participants' recall of factual information.
Materials
Three versions of the Louis Braille passage were used in this experiment.
They were as follows:
• Headings written in the form of statements (embedded in the text)
• Headings written in the form of statements (placed in the margin)
• A control text, without headings, the same width as the text with embedded
headings(approximately 15 cms).
In order to minimise cheating, the order of the questions in the ten-item factual
recall test was varied for each of the experimental conditions, and the cover and
end sheets of the booklets for the different conditions were presented in different
colours. When the task was done, the participants each completed the GAP
reading comprehension test (McLeod and Unwin, 1970).

TABLE Xa
The Effects of Headings in the Form of Statements, on the Factual
Recall of 11 - 12 year old Pupils Reading the Louis Braille Pas-
sage. (Average recall scores out of 10 with (below) N in each
group: headings in the form of statements)
Overall
Headings Text 7.0
31
Margin 6.7
30
6.8
61
Controls Text 6.2 6.2
41 41
135
TABLE Xb
The Results of Experiment 10 Expressed in Terms of
Ability
High-ability Headings 7.9
33
Controls 6.9
18
Low-ability Headings 5.5
28
Controls 5.7
23
Participants
Approximately 100 first-year comprehensive school pupils (aged between
11 and 12) took part in this enquiry. The pupils were taught in mixed-ability
groups.
Procedure
The procedure was the same as that used in Experiments l, 2 and 7. The
participants were asked to read through the passages once carefully and then,
test Questions on the back.

136
Results
The results obtained from this enquiry are shown in Table 10a. An inde-
pendent sample t-test between the headings and no headings groups showed no
significant difference in their recall. The headings groups recalled an average of
6.8 items (sd + 2.13) whilst the no heading group recalled an average of 6.2 items
(sd + 2.12) (t = 1.41, df 199, n.s.d.).
The results were next examined in terms of ability by sub-dividing the
participants into two groups on the basis of their scores on the GAP reading
comprehension test. A median split of the sample at + 28 points on the GAP
produced one group of 51 relatively "high" ability pupils and another group of 51
relatively "low" ability pupils. The data obtained from these two groups (shown
in Table 10b) were examined in a two-way ANOVA (ability × conditions). This
analysis indicated:
• A significant effect for ability (F = 21.64, df 1,98, p < 0.001). High-ability
pupils recalled an average of 7.6 items whilst the low-ability pupils recalled an
average of 5.6 items.
• No significant difference between the amount remembered by the headings
group and the no headings group (F = 1.28, df 1,98, n.s.d.).
• No significant interaction between these variables (F= 2.34, df 1,98, n.s.d.).
Conclusions
The results of this experiment suggested that with this passage and with
these participants headings did not significantly affect recall. It was of interest to
observe, however, that the headings groups did perform better than the non-
headings group (although not significantly). It may be that these findings reflect
differences between the passages or the participants used in these experiments.
Experiments 11 and 12 described below attempted to tease out further these
variables.
12.2 EXPERIMENTELEVEN
Aim
The aim of this experiment was to replicate Experiment 10 (with a larger
sample size) in order to check whether or not the results of Experiment 10 were
reliable.
Materials
All six versions of the Louis Braille passage were used in this experiment. As
in Experiment 10 the test and cover sheets were printed in separate colours for
each of the six conditions and the orders of the test questions were varied in an
attempt to minimise possible cheating. In this experiment the number of test
questions was increased from ten to twelve.

137
Participants
Approximately 190 first-year pupils from two comprehensive schools took
part in this enquiry. The pupils were taught in streamed classes.
Procedure
The procedure was the same as that used in Experiments 1, 2, 7 and 10. The
participants were asked to read through the passages once carefully and then,
test questions on the back. When all the pupils had completed the experiment,
they next completed a reading comprehension test devised by the authors. (This
test was a composite of the GAP and the GAPADOL tests devised by McLeod
and Unwin, 1970, and McLeod and Anderson, 1973: it used the last half of the
GAP and the first half of the GAPADOL).
Results
The results (analysed in terms of the kinds of headings) are shown in Table
1l a. A one-way analysis of variance showed that there were no significant
differences between the recall scores of the three groups (headings as questions,
headings as statements, and controls) (F= 0.51, df 2,183, n.s.d.).
participants into two groups on the basis of their reading comprehension test
scores. A median split of the scores produced one group of 87 relatively "high"
ability pupils and another group of 97 relatively "low" ability ones. The data
obtained from these two groups (shown in Table 1Ib) were examined in a
two-way analysis of variance (ability X conditions). This analysis indicated:
• A significant effect for ability (F = 52.97, df 1,180, p < 0.001). High-ability
TABLE XIa
The Effects of Headings on the Factual Recall of 11-12 year old Pupils Reading the Louis
Braille Passage. (Averagerecallscores out of 12 with (below)N in each group)
Headings Questions 8.6
62
Statements 8.2
62
Overall
8.4
124
Controls (No headings) 8.2 8.2
62 62

138
TABLE XIb
High-ability Headings as questions 9.6
29
Headings as statements 9.1
31
Controls 9.7
29
Low-ability Headings as questions 7.6
33
Headings as statements 7.4
31
Controls 6.9
33
pupils recalled an average of 9.4 items whilst the low-ability pupils recalled an
average of 7.3 items.
• No significant difference between the amounts remembered by the two head-
ings groups and the no heading group (F = 0.60, df 2,180, n.s.d.).
• No significant interaction between these variables (F = 1.15, df 2,180, n.s.d.).
Conclusions
The findings of this study replicated those of Experiment 10, with a larger
sample size. It would appear, therefore, that headings do not assist the recall of
11-12 year old pupils with this particular passage.
12.3 EXPERIMENT TWELVE
Aim
The aim of this experiment was to replicate Experiment 10 with a group of
older participants in order to check whether or not the age of the participants
would have an effect when the passage was the same for both groups.
Materials
Four versions of the Louis Braille passage were used in this experiment.
These were as follows:
• Headings written in the form of questions (embedded in the text).
• Headings written in the form of questions (placed in the margin).

139
• Two control texts with text widths to match the two experimental texts.
As in Experiment 10 the test and cover sheets were printed in separate colours for
each of the four conditions, and the orders of the twelve test questions were
varied in an attempt to minimise possible cheating.
Participants
Approximately 120 fourth-year comprehensive school pupils (aged be-
tween 14 and 15) took part in this enquiry. The pupils were taught in different
ability groups.
Procedure
The procedure was the same as that used in Experiments l, 2, 7, 10 and 11.
The participants were asked to read through the passages once carefully and
then, when they had completed their reading, to turn their booklet over and to
answer the test questions on the back. When all the pupils had completed the
experiment they next completed the composite reading comprehension cloze-
type described in Experiment 11.
Results
The results obtained for the (combined) headings groups versus the (com-
bined) control groups are shown in Table 12a. These results were compared by
using an independent t test. It was found that the headings groups recalled
significantly more (2 = 9.8, sd 1.53) than the no headings groups (2= 9.0, sd 1.72)
(t = 2.64, df 120, p < 0.01).
TABLE XIIa
The Effects of Headings in the Form of
Questions on the Factual Recall of
14-15 year old Pupils Reading the
Louis Braille Passage. (Average recall
scores out of 12 with (below)Nin each
group)
Overall
Headings
sd
9.8
1.53
60
Controls
sd
9.0
1.72
62

140
TABLE XIIb
The Resultsof Experiment 12Expressedin Terms of Ability
Headings Controls
High-ability 9.8 10.0
30 28
Low-ability 9.8 8.2
30 34
participants into two groups on the basis of their reading comprehension scores.
A median split of the data produced the group of 58 relatively high-ability pupils
and another group of 64 relatively low-ability ones. The data obtained from
these two groups (shown in Table 12b) were analysed in a two-way analysis of
variance (ability × conditions). This analysis indicated:
• A significant effectfor ability. High-ability pupils recalled more (~ = 9.9) than
low-ability ones (~ = 8.9) (F = 12.20, df 1,18, p < 0.01).
• A significant effect for conditions. Pupils with headings recalled more than
pupils without them (F= 6.31, df 1,118, p < 0.02).
• A significant two-way interaction between ability and conditions (F= 10.55,
df 1,118, p < 0.01). Further analysis of this interaction with Scheff~ tests
showed that there was no significant difference between the recall of high
ability pupils with headings (~ = 9.8) or without them (~ = 10.0), but that low
ability pupils with headings (~ = 9.8) recalled significantly more than low-abil-
ity pupils without them (~ = 8.2) (p < 0.01). In addition there was no
significant difference between the recall of the low ability (~ = 9.8) and the
high ability (~ = 9.8) with headings, but without the headings the low-ability
students (~ = 8.2) recalled significantly less than the high-ability (~ = 10.0) (p
< 0.01).
Conclusions
The findings from this study are clearer. Despite the fact that the scores had
a restricted range (as the easier passage was used with the older pupils), the
presence of headings significantly affected recall, especially the recall of the least
able pupils. These findings suggest, therefore, that the difference between the
findings of the studies of recall so far reported are more likely to be a conse-
quence of age and experience than a consequence of different passages. Older
pupils have gained from headings with both the easy and the difficult passages.
Younger pupils have not gained from the presence of headings in the easy
passage. (It was not, of course, feasible to test the younger pupils with the
difficult passage.) These findings then suggest that there might be a developmen-
tal trend in the ability of children to use headings to aid recall.

141
13.0 Replicating the Search Studies
13.1 EXPERIMENT THIRTEEN
Aim
The aim of this experiment was to replicate the search experiments des-
cribed above. The specific aim was to see if headings written in the form of
statements would significantly improve participants' search times.
Materials
Four versions of the Louis Braille passage were employed in this experi-
ment. They were as follows:
• Headings written in the form of statements (embedded in the text).
• Headings written in the form of statements (placed in the margin).
headings.
headings.
The practice passages (on Spiders) were also used in this experiment.
Participants
116 first-year comprehensive school pupils (aged between ! 1 and 12) took
part in this enquiry. The pupils were taught in streamed classes.
Procedure
The procedure was basically the same as that used in Experiments 3, 4 and
8. The practice passages and procedures used in those experiments were repeated
here. In the search task proper, each participant searched a version of the Louis
Braille passage (without having first read it) in order to find and circle the
answers to ten search questions. The order of the search questions was varied for
each of the experimental conditions and the question sheets were appropriately
colour coded in order to minimise cheating. The times of searching were dis-
played on the blackboard and recorded on the answer sheets as before. After
completing the search task, the participants completed the composite GAP and
GAPADOL reading comprehension test.
Results
The data were first examined for accuracy and the results of pupils who
made three or more errors (N = 9) were discarded. The results for the search
times obtained in this enquiry are shown in Table 13a. An independent t-test
between the times from the participants with headings (2 - 10.3 min.) compared
with those from the participants without headings (2 = 12.2 min.) showed the

142
TABLE XIIIa
The Results of Experiment 13. Average Search Times (min.) to
Find and Circle the Answers to 10 Questions in an Unfamiliar
Text.
Headings Marginal 10.1
27
Embedded 10.4
26
10.3
53
Controls Marginal 12.1
25
Embedded 12.2
29
12.2
54
TABLE XIIIb
The Resultsof Experiment 13 Expressedin Terms of
Ability
32
Controls 10.5
24
21
Controls 13.6
30
difference between them to be significant (t = 2.82, df 105, p < 0.01, one-tailed).
participants into two groups on the basis of their reading test scores. The average
search times of the main sub-groups were calculated and are shown in Table 13b.
These data were subjected to a two-way analysis of variance (ability × condi-
tions). The results indicated:
• A significant ability effect (F-- 21.86, df 1,103, p < 0.001). The high-ability
participants searched significantly faster (~ = 9.7 min.) than the low-ability
participants (~ = 12.9 rain.).
• A significant conditions effect (F= 5.27, df 1,102, p < 0.02).
• No significant interaction between these variables (F = 0.01, df 1,103, p <
O.9O).

143
Conclusions
8. Headings, in the form of embedded statements, significantly improved the
time taken to search unfamiliar text. These results have been found now with
both passages, two different age groups, and with high and low-ability pupils,
and thus they have some generality.
14.0 Replicating the Retrieval Studies
14.1 EXPERIMENT FOURTEEN
Aim
The aim of this experiment was to replicate the retrieval experiments
described above. The specific aim was to see if headings written in the form of
statements would improve participants' retrieval times.
Materials
Four versions of the Louis Braille passage were employed in this experi-
ment. They were as follows:
• Headings written in the form of statements (embedded in the text).
• Headings written in the form of statements (placed in the margin).
headings.
headings.
The practice passages (on Spiders) were also used in this experiment.
Participants
Some 88 first-year comprehensive school pupils (aged between 11 and 12)
took part in this enquiry. The pupils were taught in streamed classes.
Procedure
The procedure was basically the same as that used in Experiments 5, 6 and
9. The practice passages and procedures used in those experiments were repeated
here. In the retrieval task proper, each participant searched a version of the
Louise Braille passage after first having read it (for a period of 6 min.) in order to
find and circle the answers to ten search questions. The order of the search
questions was varied for each of the experimental conditions and the question
sheets were appropriately colour coded. The times of the search were displayed
on the blackboard, and recorded on the answer sheets as before. After com-
pleting the retrieval task the participants completed the composite GAP/GA-
PADOL reading comprehension test.

144
TABLE XIVa
The Results of Experiment 14. AverageRetrievalTimes (min.) to
Find the Answers to 10 Questions in Familiar Text.
Headings Text 6.1
19
Marginal 7.1
21
Controls Text 7.6
21
Marginal 8.2
21
6.6
40
7.9
42
TABLE XIVb
The Resultsof Experiment 14Expressedin Terms of
Ability
23
Controls 7.0
20
17
Controls 8.8
22
Results
The data were first examined for accuracy, and the results of pupils who
made three or more errors were discarded (N = 6). The results for the retrieval
times obtained in this enquiry are shown in Table 14a. A t-test between the times
from participants with the headings (2 = 6.6 min.) compared with those from the
participants without headings (2 10= 7.9 min.) showed the differences between
them to be significant (t = 2.21, df 80, p < 0.05, two-tailed).
participants into two groups on the basis of their scores on the reading compre-
hension test. The average retrieval times of the main sub-groups were calculated
and are shown in Table 14b. These data were subjected to a two-way analysis of
variance (ability × conditions). The results indicated:

145
• A significant ability effect (F = 20.09, df 1,78, p < 0.001). The high-ability
participants retrieved information significantly faster (2 = 6.1 rain.) than did
the low-ability ones (2 = 8.6 rain.).
• A significant conditions effect (F = 3.80, df 1,78, p < 0.05).
• No significant interaction between these variables (F-- 0.84, df 1,78).
Conclusions
The results from this enquiry replicate those found in Experiments 5, 6 and
9. Headings in the form of statements significantly improved the time taken to
retrieve information from familiar text. These results have been found now with
both passages, and two different age groups, and with high and low-ability
pupils. They thus have some generality.
15.0 A Final Consideration: Headings as Questions and Headings as State-
ments with Low-ability Pupils
Previous research carried out by the author and his colleagues (Hartley et
al., 1980; Hartley, et al., 1981) showed that less-able pupils recalled significantly
more from text with headings written in the form of questions than they did from
text with headings written in the form of statements. These early studies were
limited, however, in that they used short texts (about 350 words) and small
sample sizes (no more than ten in each group).
Experiment 7 in this report likewise had small sample sizes, but it did use a
longer text. The results, it will be recalled, showed no significant differences
between the recall of low-ability pupils from text with headings in the form of
questions or headings in the form of statements.
A major problem with the studies reported so far is that the definition of
low-ability has been inconsistent and somewhat crude (largely because low-abili-
ty has been a side issue). In most of the studies reported above, school designa-
tions of low-ability have been accepted, and these have varied from school to
school.
We attempted to circumvent this difficulty in our later studies by using the
GAP, the GAPADOL and our composite reading comprehension tests. The
measures obtained on such tests allowed us to group children into high and low
ability on the basis of the test scores, and in future experiments they will allow us
to pool children from different schools. Furthermore, the use of the GAPADOL
test (with its reading age norms) wil! allow us to use more refined measures of
ability with older children (see below).
Because of the earlier findings, and the intrinsic interest of the question, we
carried out three further enquiries into the effects of headings written either in the
form of questions or of statements on the recall of low-ability pupils. These
studies are the most substantial ones on this topic known to the authors.

146
TABLE XV
The Effects of Headings as Questions versus Headings as Statements with 11- 12 year old
Low-ability Children Reading the Louis Braille Passage
Headings in the form Headings in the form
of questions of statements
Low-ability Group 1
(Reading test scores 28-37)
Low-ability Group 2
(Reading test scores 10-27)
8.4 8.0
17 19
6.6 6.5
16 12
15.1 EXPERIMENT FIFTEEN
Aim
The aim of this experiment was to compare the effects of headings written in
the form of questions with headings written in the form of statements on the
recall of low-ability children.
Procedure
The experiment was conducted as part ot Experiment 11. The materials,
participants and procedures were as described earlier. 64 low-ability 11-12 year
old participants were extracted from the total sample on the basis of their scores
on the composite reading comprehension test, and these were further divided
into higher and lower low-ability groups as shown in Table 15. For these two
groups the recall scores were calculated for those participants who had read the
text with headings in the form of questions and those who had read the text with
headings in the form of statements.
Results
The results of this procedure are shown in Table 15. A two-way analysis of
variance (ability × condition) indicated:
• A significant effect for ability (F = 8.87, df 1,60, p < 0.001).
• No significant effect for different types of heading (F= 0.34, df 1,60, n.s.d.).
• No significant interaction between these variables (F = 0.03, df 1,60, n.s.d.).
Conclusion
Headings as questions did not prove to be superior to headings as state-
ments with either of the two low-ability groups reading the Louis Braille passage.

147
15.2 EXPERIMENT SIXTEEN
Aim
The aim of this experiment was to replicate Experiment 15 with older
participants and to focus directly on low-ability pupils.
Materials
Four versions of the Louis Braille passage were used. These were text with
marginal or embedded headings written either in the form of questions or
statements.
Participants
Approximately 110 14-15 year old pupils designated as low-ability in three
comprehensive schools took part in this enquiry.
Procedure
The pupils were randomly allocated into one of the four experimental
conditions. After having read the text they completed the twelve item factual
recall test. (The orders of the test questions were varied for each of the four
conditions, and tests and cover sheets were coloured appropriately for each
condition). Following this the pupils completed the composite GAP and
GAPADOL reading comprehension test. The sample was then sub-divided into
two low-ability groups (on the basis of the median test score), and groups with
marginal and embedded headings in each condition combined.
Results
The results obtained in this experiment are shown in Table 16. A two-way
analysis of variance (ability × condition) indicated:
• A significant ability effect (F = 10.40, df 1,104, p < 0.002).
TABLE XVI
The Effects of Headings as Questions versus Headings as Statements with 14- 15 year old
Low-ability Pupils Reading the Louis Braille Passage
8.3 8.8
26 31
Low-ability Group 1
(Reading test scores 31- 50)
Low-ability Group 2
(Reading test scores 11- 30)
7.3 6.9
28 23

148
• No significant effect for the different types of heading (F = 0.02, df 1,104,
n.s.d.).
• No significant interaction between these variables (F= 1.23, df 1,104, n.s.d.).
Conclusion
The results from this experiment (with older pupils) confirm the results
from Experiment 15. There were no significant differences in recall from head-
ings in the form of questions or headings in the form of statements with either of
the two low-ability groups.
15.3 EXPERIMENT SEVENTEEN
Aim
The aim of this experiment was to replicate part of Experiment 7 again
focusing directly on headings as questions or statements with low-ability pupils.
Materials
Two versions of the television viewing passage were used. These were the
text with embedded headings in either the form of questions or statements.
Participants
Approximately 140 14-15 year old pupils designated as low-ability in four
comprehensive schools took part in this enquiry.
Procedure
The procedure was the same as that described for Experiment 15 (except
that these pupils read the television viewing passage). Following the test, the
pupils then completed the GAPADOL reading comprehension test.
TABLE XVII
The Effects of Headings as Questions versus Heading as Statements with 14- 15 year old
Pupils Reading the Television Viewing Passage
Low-ability Group 1
(Reading age up to
39 months below average)
Low-ability Group 2
(Reading age beyond
39 months below average)
5.5 4.9
19 23
5.3 4.9
26 14

149
Results
The GAPADOL test provides reading ages for each participant (and is
more suitable for these older participants). The average reading age of the
sample was 13 years I0 months (sd + 30.6 months). This indicates that the
sample was generally oflow-ab!lity. However, some forty percent (N= 58) of its
members had a reading age which was equal to or in excess of their chronological
age. As these participants were clearly not of "low-ability" they were omitted
from further consideration. The average reading age of the remaining 82 pupils
was 11 years 11 months. Once again we were able to split this sample into two
sub-samples of low-ability pupils. The result obtained from this enquiry are
shown in Table 17. A two-way analysis of variance indicated:
• No significant effect due to ability (F = 0.02, df 1,78, n.s.d.).
• No significant effect due to the type of heading (F = !,26, df 1,78, n.s.d.).
• No interaction between these variables (F = 0.01, df 1,78 n.s.d.).
Conclusions
The results from this experiment confirm those reported in Experiments 14
and 15. All three experiments have shown (with both young and older participants
and with easy and difficult text) no differential effects on recall resulting from
headings in the form of questions versus headings in the form of statements. The
only crumb of comfort that can be seen is that groups with questions do better
than groups with statements (although not significantly) in five out of six
comparisons. Nonetheless, the differences are so small that it would seem wise to
conclude that in these experiments differences in the kind of heading have had no
real effect.
16.0 Overall Summary and Concluding Remarks
Headings have aided search, retrieval and recall. The findings for recall
were significant with 14-15 year old participants reading a relatively difficult text
and a relatively easy one: they were not significant for 11--12 year olds reading a
relatively easy text. However, headings aided search and retrieval for both age
groups. The main results obtained and their associated probability values are
shown in Table 18. In addition, a meta-analysis (following Glass et al., 1981)
shows that the mean effect-size is 0.43. This figure suggests that the effects of
headings are to move the average participant in the control group to about the
66th percentile.
Nine experiments in the series reported compared marginal with text
embedded headings. None of these studies produced any significant difference.
Table 19 summarizes these results. Clearly, in these experiments with these

150
TABLE XVIII
Gains for Headings: A Summary of the Results from Fourteen Experiments
Mean Mean Probability level Effect*
result for result for size
headings controls
Expts. 1 7.6 6.8 F= 4.56 p<0.03 0.33
2 6.5 5.8 F= 6.28 p<0.01 0.41
7 Recall 7.5 6.5 F= 4.78 p<0.01 0.60
10 scores 6.8 6.2 t = 1.41 n.s.d. 0.28
11 8.4 8.2 F= 0.51 n.s.d. 0.09
12 9.8 9.0 t= 2.64 p<0.01 0.46
Expts. 3 13.0 15.0 F= 7.91 p<0.01 0.44
4 Search 11.0 13.4 F= 4.04 p<0.05 0.38
8 times 10.6 12.6 F= 6.55 p<0.002 0.59
13 10.3 12,2 t = 2.82 p<0.05 0.46
Expts. 5 8.0 10.2 F= 14.20 p<0.001 0.68
6 Retrieval 7.5 8.9 F= 6.11 p<0.02 0.46
9 times 7.8 9.0 F= 2.90 p<0.06 0.34
14 6.6 7.9 t = 2.21 p<0.05 0.46
* The effect-size is the difference between the mean of the experimental group and the mean
of the control group divided by the standard deviation of the control group. The average
effect-size is a statistic introduced by Glass and his colleagues (e.g. Glass et al., 1981) for
describing the average size of the difference obtained when there is a large number of studies
on a particular issue which vary in size, complexity, measures used, etc. A critique of meta-
analysis is provided by Slavin, 1984.
TABLE XIX
The Effect of the Position of Headings: A summary of the Results from Nine Experiments
Mean result for Mean result for
marginal headings embedded headings
Expts. 1 Recall 7.6 7.5
2 6.4 6.6
10 scores 6.7 7.0
Expts.
Expts.
3 12.8 13.2
Search
4 12.0 11.7
13 times 10.1 10.4
5 7.8 8.1
Retrieval
6 7.4 7.5
times
14 7.1 6.1

A research strategy for text desigbers The role of headings.pdf

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