Allocating Time Across Multiple Texts: Sampling and Satisficing

We report two studies investigating readers' ability to allocate limited time adaptively across online texts of varying difficulty. In both studies participants were asked to learn about the human heart and were free to allocate time to 4 separate on-line texts about the heart but did not have enough time to read them all thoroughly. Of particular interest was whether readers attempted to select the best text for them (by sampling the texts before reading) or to monitor texts while reading them and continue reading any text judged good enough (a satisficing strategy). We argue that both strategies can be considered adaptive, depending on properties of readers, texts, and tasks. Experiment 1 tested readers with a range of background knowledge and allowed them either 7 or 15 min study time. It showed that participants were adaptive in how they allocated their time in that more knowledgeable readers spent more time reading more difficult texts. Satisficing was a much more common strategy than sampling. Experiment 2 showed that providing outline overviews of each text dramatically increased the number of participants using a sampling strategy so that it became the modal strategy. However, this change in strategy had no effect on learning. Outline overviews presumably changed readers' perception of the ease with which relevant dimensions of text quality can be judged.