A Survey On Digital Reading Materials and Personal Study of Christian Religious Texts

Abstract

Religion is an important part of many people's lives, with reading from religious texts being among the most common and important regular practices. Modern technology has in many ways changed the way this religious reading takes place, but the effects of these changes have not yet been studied. While there have been plenty of studies examining the effects of digital media on reading comprehension and similar topics, the study of religious texts is often primarily focused on achieving a religious experience, so the existing research is not sufficient to explore these changes. In our study, we used surveyed students from two universities to ask individuals how they use technology in their personal study of religious texts and religious education courses. Our respondents were predominately Christian. Through qualitative and quantitative analysis of the results, we aim to learn how technology interacts with study of religious texts, in what situations technology is preferred over print and vice versa, and the rationale for choosing the medium for a given task. In particular, we have found that paper scriptures are still frequently used even with the prevalence of technology. Additionally, individuals do not strictly use one particular medium during study; they tend to choose different mediums depending on the circumstances.