On the Use of Verbal Reports in Reading Research

Abstract

In 1917, E. L. Thorndike focused attention on the processes, particularly the reasoning processes, involved in reading. More than 50 years later, following the hiatus imposed by behaviorism, Simons (1971) reemphasized that research should focus more on the reading process than on the product of reading if progress were to be made toward understanding the nature of comprehension. However, observing and understanding the comprehension process seems more easily proposed than actualized. We have generally inferred the process from products, such as differential performance on different comprehension questions, perhaps collected under different conditions. Researchers interested in studying the cognitive processes involved in reading have recently shown interest in the use of verbal reports to gather data on aspects of the reading process (Bridge & Winograd, 1982; Brown & Day, 1983; Garner, 1982; Johnston & Afflerbach, 1983; Kavale & Schreiner, 1979; Marr, 1983; Olshavsky, 1976-77). This interest is actually a continuation of the long, if sporadic, history of verbal report data in reading research (Huey, 1908; McCallister, 1930; Piekarz, 1954; Strang, 1964, 1970). Verbal reporting, especially introspection, had been an important component of psychological investigation, including reading research, prior to the rise of behaviorism