Hollenbeck, K., Tindal, G., Stieber, S., & Harniss, M. (1999). Handwritten versus word-processed statewide compositions: Do judges rate them differently ? University of Oregon Research Consultation, and Teaching Program.
Hollenbeck, K., Tindal, G., Stieber, S., & Harniss, M. (1999). Handwritten versus word-processed statewide compositions: Do judges rate them differently? University of Oregon Research Consultation, and Teaching Program.
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Research report
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Summary
Accommodation
Raters judged essays in two forms: Handwritten, Typed (the handwritten essays transcribed by the researchers). Each judge did not rate both forms of the same essay. The judges did not know that the typed essays were originally handwritten.
Participants
Participants were 80 middle school students (7 students were receiving special education) with an average age of 15.1. Half of the students were male and half female. 94% of the students were Caucasian.
Dependent Variable
The writing portion of the Oregon Statewide Assessment was administered. The compositions were evaluated using a scoring guide that ranged from 1 to 6 in quality. Six traits were scored: Ideas-Content, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Conventions.
Findings
Analysis showed that the original handwritten compositions were rated significantly higher than the typed composition on three of the six writing traits for the total group. Further, five of the six mean trait scores favored the handwritten essays.