Arnold, V., Legas, J., Obler, S., Pacheco, M. A., Russell, C., & Umbdenstock, L. (1990). Do students get higher scores on their word-processed papers? A study of bias in scoring hand-written vs. word-processed papers (pp. 1–33). Rio Hondo College. http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/24/0e/0d.pdf
Arnold, V., Legas, J., Obler, S., Pacheco, M. A., Russell, C., & Umbdenstock, L. (1990). Do students get higher scores on their word-processed papers? A study of bias in scoring hand-written vs. word-processed papers (pp. 1–33). Rio Hondo College. http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/24/0e/0d.pdf
Notes
Research report from Rio Hondo College, Whittier, California. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 345 818)
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Summary
Accommodation
Raters judged the writing quality of both handwritten and word-processed essays along with spell-checker tool. [The 300 handwritten essays were then word processed to prevent bias before comparison.]
Participants
Postsecondary students, who had taken a placement exam and final exam consisting of a writing sample, participated.
Dependent Variable
A holistic score was given to each paper, ranging from 1 to 6. Raters and students completed surveys about attitudes and judgments.
Findings
Handwritten papers were rated lower than word processed papers. Long papers composed by a word processor were rated significantly higher. Raters preferred to read handwritten papers. Students wrote by hand because of typing skill difficulties or word processed because of editing features.