Inconclusive prospective effects between technology acceptance, classroom distraction, and academic engagement among Chinese high school students: A reassessment of Li and Chen (2026)
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Li and Chen concluded reciprocal prospective associations between technology acceptance, classroom digital distraction, and academic engagement among high school students. However, significant cross-lagged parameters do not by themselves establish genuine prospective influence because similar estimates may arise through alternative statistical processes. Using simulated data that reproduced the sample size and correlation matrix reported by Li and Chen, I examined whether their conclusions were robust across several defensible analytic specifications. The pattern of results depended strongly on analytic choice: some models suggested positive prospective associations, whereas others indicated negative or null effects. When estimates from all specifications were combined using meta-analytic methods, no overall effect reached statistical significance. Accordingly, the available evidence does not provide a firm basis for concluding that technology acceptance, classroom distraction, and academic engagement exert reciprocal prospective influences on one another. In line with multiverse-analysis recommendations, conclusions should be drawn from the collective pattern across reasonable analytical alternatives rather than from a single model.
Author: Kimmo Sorjonen
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7221318512