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Dissertation » Overview

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While working on coursework for my Doctoral program, Apple Computer released the Beta version of QuickTime. I quickly got hooked on computer-based video and non-linear editing... so much so that I altered my path and became a multimedia developer, delaying the completion of my Ph.D. for two years. When I decided to tackle my dissertation, I found a way to combine my long-standing interests in cognition and learning with my newly-discovered passion for digital video and multimedia.

I was interested in how the insertion of certain types of questions at decision points in an interactive story might affect learning and attitude change. The specific purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of embedded question type and locus of control (LOC) orientation on processing depth and changes in knowledge and attitude regarding alcohol.

I recruited, auditioned, cast and directed talent, filmed, edited and developed a choose-your-own-adventure type interactive video application (using Authorware) for an alcohol prevention program for adolescents (grades 7, 8, and 9) entitled Interactive Multimedia for the Promotion of Alcohol Awareness and Resistance Training (IMPART).

The interactive story enables the user to make choices for the primary character, and to see the consequences of those choices. For the purposes of my research, I modified the interactive story to include varying types of interstitial questions which appeared between video segments at pre-determined decision points within the story.

Plagued by a number of methodological shortcomings, the research hypotheses for this study received very limited support from the analyses. The most notable of these methodological problems involve a severely flawed reaction-time measure, a conceptually undemanding instructional domain, and confounding settings for pre- and posttest administration of questionnaires.

Results did indicate that the presence of embedded questions facilitated significantly greater positive changes in attitude constructs, and that subjects with a more internal LOC exhibited significantly greater positive changes in knowledge constructs in comparison to their external LOC counterparts.

Acknowledgements

This research was made possible by Dr. Russell J. Churchill and the American Research Corporation of Virginia (ARCOVA), Radford, Virginia through their support and permission to use the IMPART 1.2© multimedia program and its associated media content developed under Phase I SBIR Contract N43AA42010 for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Public Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services in Rockville, Maryland.

I would like to thank my committee, Dr. Robert C. Williges, Dr. John K. Burton, Dr. Stel E. Duncan, Dr. C. Patrick Koelling, and Dr. Robert J. Beaton for their incomparable patience throughout this long endeavor. I would particularly like to thank Dr. Williges for his insight and support throughout all stages of this project, Dr. Burton for his ongoing encouragement toward the completion of this journey, and Dr. Stel E. Duncan for her ability to listen and encourage, and for inspiring me with her perspective whenever mine became clouded. I would also like to thank R. Richard Avent, Dr. Usha Varshney, and Howard Moses of ARCOVA whose efforts and support helped make this research a reality.

Special thanks are given to Sara E. Little for her loving support through the toughest of times and her constructive input throughout this project. Additional thanks are extended to Susan Kurtz, Karen Dugan, Bill Beecher, and Bob Anderson who aided in the recruitment of subjects for this study. Finally, I would like to thank all my friends and family for their untiring love, support, and understanding through the years.