Zebra Striping: Does it Really Help?
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/zebrastripingdoesithelp

Enders, Jessica
List Apart, A
2008

Abstract:

The user of a table would be looking for one or more data points. Therefore, if we set a task that uses a table, and zebra striping does make things easier, then we would expect to see improvements in accuracy and speed.