Peer-reviewed research
Testing Writing on Computers
Michael Russell and Walt Haney, Education Policy Analysis Archives, 1997 · DOI 10.14507/epaa.v5n3.1997
Read the originalRead on October 17, 2026
- What it is
- A peer-reviewed study of open-ended tests taken by middle school students, some on paper and some on computer. It compared the writing by mode and by how much each student was used to writing on a computer.
- How much weight it carries
- Peer-reviewed and widely cited in testing research. It is a small experiment with middle school students, so the size of the effect may not carry over to law students or to a timed exam room.
Facts taken from this source
- In the 1997 study, for students accustomed to writing on computer, responses written on computer scored substantially higher than responses written by hand.
“for students accustomed to writing on computer, responses written on computer are substantially higher than those written by hand” (Abstract)