Multimedia-only stories benefit story comprehension, whereas stories that also include interactive features do not¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (3 entries) · quant-synthesis r2–r3 · q3 · i1–i2
Currency · newest study 2015 · checked against its sources 2026-10-19 (automated, 3 of 3 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

Reading the evidence codes

q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.

This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.

q3 i1 Stories including only multimedia features had a positive additional effect on story comprehension (g+ = 0.39), while stories including both multimedia and interactive features showed no significant effect (g+ = -0.14). → Takacs 2015 q3 i1 Multimedia stories significantly outperformed both oral-only presentations (g+ = 0.43) and presentations with static illustrations (g+ = 0.36). → Takacs 2015 (2) q3 i2 For disadvantaged children, multimedia stories showed a strong additional effect on story comprehension (g+ = 0.66) while stories with interactive features did not. → Takacs 2015 (3)

Evidence¶

Takacs 2015¶

Takacs, Z. K., Swart, E. K., & Bus, A. G. (2015). Benefits and Pitfalls of Multimedia and Interactive Features in Technology-Enhanced Storybooks: A Meta-Analysis. Review of Educational Research, 85(4), 698-739. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654314566989

q3 · i1 · quant-synthesis · r?

Meta-analytic moderator analysis contrasting multimedia-only, interactive-only, and multimedia-interactive stories; the contrast was significant, Qbetween(2) = 12.10, p < .01. Table 3 reports multimedia-only story comprehension g+ = 0.39, 95% CI [0.20, 0.59], p < .01 (printed effect size g+ = 0.39), and interactive-multimedia g+ = -0.14, p = .27.

"stories including only multimedia had a positive additional effect on story comprehension compared to more traditional story sharing activities, g+ = 0.39, whereas this effect was not significant for stories including both multimedia and interactive features."

Takacs 2015 (2)¶

q3 · i1 · quant-synthesis · r3

Meta-analytic moderator analysis within the multimedia-only condition, with printed effect sizes g+ = 0.43 and g+ = 0.36; the presence of illustrations in the comparison condition was not a significant moderator, Qbetween = 0.11, p = .74, so the advantage held over both kinds of traditional comparison.

"Multimedia stories had a significant advantage over both only orally presented stories, g+ = 0.43, k = 9, SE = 0.14, 95% CI = [0.15, 0.71], p < .01, and stories presented with static illustrations, g+ = 0.36, k = 12, SE = 0.14, 95% CI = [0.08, 0.64], p = .01."

Takacs 2015 (3)¶

q3 · i2 · quant-synthesis · r2

Meta-analytic subgroup moderator analysis of story comprehension with printed effect size g+ = 0.66 for multimedia stories among disadvantaged children. For nondisadvantaged children the multimedia-versus-interactive difference was also significant, Qbetween(1) = 4.18, p = .04, with multimedia g+ = 0.28 and interactive g+ = -0.04.

"For disadvantaged children the difference was significant, Qbetween(1) = 7.22, p < .01, with a strong additional effect of multimedia stories, g+ = 0.66, k = 7, SE = 0.23, 95% CI = [0.21, 1.11], p < .01, and a nonsignificant effect for stories also including interactive features."

Discussion¶

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`claim`
`id`	`multimedia-only-benefits-interactive-features-detrimental`
`title`	`Multimedia-only stories benefit story comprehension, whereas stories that also include interactive features do not`
`description`	`Multimedia-only stories benefit story comprehension, whereas stories that also include interactive features do not`
`status`	`review`
`evidence_strength`	`moderate`
`newest_evidence`	`2015`
`source_checked`	`2026-10-19`
`generated`	by `process:wiki-ingest` on `2026-10-15`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
`sources`	3 — `takacs-2015`, `takacs-2015-2`, `takacs-2015-3`

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