Strategies for distributing time when studying text: An exploratory cluster‐analysis approach

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Abstract
The present study utilized a two‐stage, cluster‐analysis methodology to explore empirically the structuring of text by readers as reflected in their reading times and the strategies employed by readers in allocating their reading time. Students at grades 4, 7, and 10 read a text which was presented, one clausal segment at a time, on the screen of a computer which recorded per‐segment viewing times. The students then completed several comprehension tests under a variety of conditions. It was found that, as assessed by viewing times, the text segments could be analyzed into seven interpretable clusters. After standardizing per‐segment viewing times within individual readers, patterns relating to times substantially above (“pausing”) and below (“skimming”) each individual's mean viewing time were identified. Students were then clustered on the basis of these two types of patterns. The relationships between membership in pausing and skimming clusters and grade, ability level, and various comprehension measures were explored. Potential uses of cluster‐analytic techniques in research of this kind are outlined.