Effects of Survey Order on Subjective Measures of Cognitive Load: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This study investigates the effect of survey order in measuring self-reported cognitive load. Understanding how survey order influences responses is crucial, but it has been largely overlooked in the context of cognitive load. Using a 2 × 2 experimental design with 319 high school students, the study manipulated intrinsic cognitive load (ICL) (pre-training vs. no pre-training) and survey order (ICL-first vs. extraneous cognitive load [ECL]-first). The results of the two-way MANOVA showed that pre-training contributed to the management of cognitive load. Cognitive load scores varied with survey order: extraneous and intrinsic load scores were higher on the ECL-first order, contrary to previous findings. However, pre-training and survey order had no significant effect on the achievement test. The structural validity of the cognitive load scale was consistent across survey types. These findings highlight the importance of survey order when considering cognitive load and provide insights for optimizing survey design in educational contexts.