Multiple Document Question Instruction: Promoting Multiple Document Thinking through Inquiry

Open Access
- Author:
- Cameron, Chelsea
- Graduate Program:
- Educational Psychology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- August 23, 2018
- Committee Members:
- Peggy Noel Van Meter, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Peggy Noel Van Meter, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Rayne Audrey Sperling, Committee Member
Crystal Marie Ramsay, Committee Member
Michael James Milligan, Outside Member - Keywords:
- Multiple Document Learning
Reading Comprehension
Strategy
Self-Questioning
Strategy Instruction
Inquiry
History Instruction - Abstract:
- College students often struggle to learn from multiple documents without instructional support. Previous research suggests that self-questioning strategies can aid comprehension and that questions aimed at multiple documents can support multiple document learning. Multiple Document Question Instruction (MDQI) was developed to teach students how to generate high-quality questions to support multiple document learning. A prior study tested the effects of this instruction, in which experimental participants received MDQI after reading the texts. Although positive effects of instruction were found, effects were small. The current study replicates that study, but includes a third condition in which participants receive MDQI before reading the documents. Findings suggest MDQI supports the learner’s abilities to generate high-quality questions and that the generation of such questions, apart from condition, does have a moderate effect on multiple document learning. While there were significant effects of condition on question generation, there were no significant condition effects on multiple document learning. There was an important pattern, however, in that MDQI before reading performed worse than both MDQI after reading and control conditions on a measure of multiple document integration and learning, contrary to expectations. Implications for further development of MDQI, educational use, and future research are discussed.