Studies challenge legitimacy of speed reading

[Dave1001]

Fair enough. Let's just consider reading speed and comprehension under ideal circumstances. So I've got good lighting, a font I could read, and I'm fully awake and functional.



Those are honestly my bigger concerns.



I'm sure that one can create useful measures of such things. I'm sure that such measures have been created. And I'm sure that studies have been done using such measures.

The problem is that when looking at the results of said studies, I don't know how to interpret what is said because I have no clue what the relevant measures are. Certainly a phrase like "75% comprehension" doesn't tell me the answer. I'd have a sense if I could see sample text and sample questions. But right now I have no clue.

Furthermore I believe that multiple such measures are out there. For instance after speed reading courses people really do read articles, and conduct tests. These tests are graded. Unlike the linked articles, I'm inclined to believe at least some of the stronger claims. After all people really did take tests, and they really did score something on them. But I think that the reading material and tests were far from equivalent, so the phrase "75% comprehension" or "50% comprehension" meant very different things.

Cheers,
Ben

Well you or another poster have already given some good examples of how such measures can be further articulated. Such as does % comprehension cover specific facts such as minor characters, does it cover typos, etc.

I think multiple useful types of % comprehension can be articulated and studied, which are worth discussing. It can be endlessly nuanced, and holes can be poked into various formulations of it endlessly, but that true about (at least almost) every natural or human phenomenon. There may be a standard measure of % comprehension, which is a typical type of % comprehension deemed most useful to study currently, which Dr. Carver is referencing.

A good starting point would be Dr. Carver's actual study and his explanation of practices and procedures, as well as similar, recent, peer-reviewed studies on this topic.