Syntes: Taking notes in the digital age: Evidence from classroom random control trials (2020)

Källa: https://doi.org/10.1080/00220485.2020.1731386 (The Journal of Economic Education 51(2), 103–115)

Verified content

• [abstract] Within-subject random control experiment separating the effect of computer note-taking from the characteristics of students who choose computers; digital note-taking had no statistically meaningful impact on performance.
• [full text] Fall 2016, five principles-of-microeconomics sections, 230 students assigned by odd/even student ID; two stand-alone 30-minute lectures a month apart by a fourth professor; groups switched medium between trials.
• [full text] Ten-question multiple-choice quiz two days after each lecture; two exam questions 2–3 weeks later; a 'conceptual' subset of 3–4 quiz items using or interpreting equations or graphs.
• [full text] Within-student fixed effects, computer vs paper: quiz −0.123 SD, exam −0.027, total −0.119, conceptual subset −0.056 (t = −0.61); none significant.

Limits

• [full text] The authors note the relatively small sample and small number of items.
• [assessment] Not preregistered; how students reviewed their notes before the quiz is not described; point estimates all slightly favour handwriting.

Added 2026-10-17 by the project (nightly attack run). [abstract] = from the published abstract; [full text] = read in the full text; [assessment] = the project's own assessment.