WHAT DO
YOU KNOW ABOUT READABILITY?
ANSWERS
1.
Define readability.
Readability usually means: 1)
legibility, 2) ease of reading, 3) whatever is measured by readability
formulas, or 4) comprehensibility, or how well a reader understands the
message. In research in written
communication, readability usually means comprehensibility. "Useability," a related term,
refers to how well a reader can apply the information.
2. What are the measurable characteristics of readable writing?
The three most common characteristics
are: 1) comprehension (how well readers understand the text), 2) recall (how well they remember the
text), 3) referencing time (how quickly they find information in the text), and
4) useability, or how well readers can apply the information in the text. Comprehension and recall can be measured
with questions about the text.
Referencing time can be measured by timing readers as they locate given
information in the text. Useability
can be measured by task evaluation.
3.
Shorter sentences are usually more readable than longer ones: true or
false?
False! Shorter sentences sometimes correlate with improved
readability. No studies show that
shortening sentences improves readability.
Readability researchers themselves caution that correlation is not
causation; that there are great differences between the prediction of readable writing and the production of it.
4. Shorter words are usually more readable than
longer ones: true or false?
False! Familiar
words are more readily understood than unfamiliar ones. Many times familiar words are
coincidentally shorter; however, the important factor is familiarity, not
length.
5. Readers understand the active voice more
readily than the passive voice: true or false? (Active voice: The physician treated the
patient. Passive voice: The patient was treated by the
physician.)
False! Most authorities recommend the active
voice, and most readers prefer the active voice, but research shows that the
passive voice communicates just as well in most circumstances. The passive voice even improves
readability when the receiver of the action is the actual subject of the
thought. The rule of thumb is
to make the subject of the thought the subject of the sentence.
6. Positive constructions are more easily understood than negative ones: true or false? (Negative construction: The patient did not die during the operation. Positive construction: The patient survived the operation.)
True. Most studies show that negation
complicates understanding.
7. "Nominalizations" are more difficult
to comprehend than comparable active verbs: true or false? (Nominalization: "They reached an
agreement." Comparable active
verb: "They agreed.")
True. Nominalizations are often found in
passive constructions, which is probably why the passive voice has such a poor
reputation. (In this example,
the passive construction with a nominalization would be "An agreement was
reached.") When a verb is
changed into a noun, a new verb has to be introduced into the sentence. Often, the new verb is weak because the
stronger, more accurate verb was chosen to become the noun.
8. Paragraphs with topic sentences are read faster
and are recalled more accurately than paragraphs without them: true or false?
True. Paragraphs without topic sentences take
longer to read, are misunderstood more often, and are recalled less
clearly.
9. a) Which passage is easier to read? b) Which has the better readability
score?
Passage A: The
defendant is a fifteen-year-old transient who is accused of shoplifting.
Passage B: He is
the defendant. He is fifteen years
old. He is in his teens. Someone says he stole from the store.
Passage A is probably easier to read,
but passage B has the better readability score. Because readability scores are based on
mathematical formulas derived from relatively few grammatical factors (usually
word length and sentence length),
they are by nature simplistic.
The examples illustrate the consequences of trying to improve writing
(as indicated by better readability scores) by shortening sentences.
10. a)
Which passage is more easily understood?
b) Which has the better readability score?
Passage A:
Enter your
gross annual income. Add all your
assets in real estate, stocks, and bonds.
Figure your tax from the table.
Passage B: Write down your first name. Now put down your middle initial and
your last name. Fill in your age on
the next line.
This is a trick question. Although passage B is more easily
understood (and complied with), both passages have the same readability
score. Readability formulas simply
do not compensate for differences in content difficulty. Also, readability scores cannot account
for the "meta-message" of a text: some adult readers feel that
passage B is condescending.
11. Arabic numerals are more easily understood
than Roman numerals: true or false?
True. This is an obvious one, but I needed one
more question to make the test an even twenty. Still, I have a documentation manual
that uses Roman numerals and Arabic numerals to designate sections and pages
(e.g., XIX.5 is chapter 19, page
5). Using the index is a real
treat. (Roman numerals are
the accepted form for several terms, such as the intracranial nerves, clotting factors, European royalty, and
World Wars.)
12.
Which table is better for comparing the number of submissions by year?
Table A: Number of articles submitted by year and quarter
|
Year |
Quarter |
Total |
|||||
|
|
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th
|
|
||
|
1985 |
23 |
27 |
35 |
21 |
106 |
||
|
1986 |
26 |
31 |
39 |
26 |
122 |
||
|
1987 |
30 |
35 |
42 |
33 |
140 |
||
|
1988 |
37 |
43 |
49 |
48 |
177 |
||
|
1989 |
40 |
44 |
51 |
56 |
191 |
||
Table B: Number of articles submitted by year and quarter
|
Quarter |
1985 |
1986 |
1987 |
1988 |
1989 |
|
1st |
23 |
26 |
30 |
37 |
40 |
|
2nd |
27 |
31 |
35 |
43 |
44 |
|
3rd |
35 |
39 |
42 |
49 |
51 |
|
4th |
21 |
26 |
33 |
48 |
56 |
|
Total |
106 |
122 |
140 |
177 |
191 |
Table B. Numbers are more easily compared across,
column to column, than down, row to row. For the same reason, Table A is
probably better for comparing submissions by quarter.
13. Which line of type is more easily read?
Line A: THIS LINE OF TYPE IS MORE EASILY READ than line b.
Line
B: No, This Line of Type is More Easily Read Than
Line A.
Line B. We recognize words by their shapes. Words in lower-case or mixed upper- and
lower-case letters have more distinct shapes than do words in upper-case
letters. However, words or
short phrases in upper-case letter are effective in adding EMPHASIS to
text. Also, note that words are
more easily identified by the upper
portion of their letters than by the lower portions. (I don't know how you might use this
information, but it was too good not to share with you.)
14.
a) Which heading is the more
useful? b) Why?
Heading
A: Patient Suitability
Heading
B: Clinical
Indications for Starting the Protocol
Heading B. Informative headings are more effective
than descriptive ones. Well
constructed headings should indicate: the organization and scope of the
document; the location of information in the document; and the content of the
text following the headings. In
addition, when phrased as questions asked by the reader, headings can
personalize the text and make referencing information easier: "Is The
Protocol Appropriate for My Patient?"
15. a)
Which sentence is easier to understand?
b) Why?
Sentence A: Every step of the procedure had to be evaluated,
including the criteria for selecting patients, the surgical approach, the
intra-operative technique, and the postoperative nursing care.
Sentence B: Every
step of the procedure, including the criteria for selecting patients, the
surgical approach, the intra-operative technique, and the postoperative nursing
care, had to be evaluated.
Passage A is probably easier to
understand. Embedded phrases or
clauses can reduce the readers' comprehension of a sentence by introducing new,
often unexpected information in the middle of the original thought, between the
subject and verb. Readability
improves by placing phrases or subordinate clauses at the end of the sentence,
where possible.
16. a)
Which sentence is easier to understand? b) Why?
Sentence
A: The nurse wants the report written by the
physician.
Sentence
B: The nurse wants the report that was written by the
physician.
Sentence B is easier to understand,
especially because sentence A is also ambiguous. Many subordinate clauses are
introduced by "relative pronouns": which, that, or who. Removing these pronouns----the
"whiz deletion," after "which is"----makes it harder for
readers to understand how the subordinate clause relates to the rest of the
sentence.
17.
a) Which sentence is easier to
understand? b) Why?
Sentence
A: They studied
patients' health-information-seeking behavior.
Sentence
B: They studied the
ways in which patients seek health information.
Sentence B. Noun strings lack the connecting words,
such as of, for, about, in, and the possessive marker, 's, that clarify how the
nouns relate to one another. However, a familiar noun string may be more
comprehensible than a phrase with unstrung nouns. So, as incredible as it seems,
"hardware thermocouple reference junction compensation circuit" may
be better than whatever you can replace it with. Maybe.
18.
Which graphic more effectively illustrates the flow of blood through the
heart?
Graphic
A: A line (schematic) drawing of the
heart with arrows indicating the path of blood through the chambers and vessels
Graphic
B: A photograph of a dissected heart
in cross section with arrows indicating the path of blood through the chambers
and vessels
Probably Graphic A. Although a photograph is a more accurate
representation of reality, extraneous details can reduce comprehension and
recall of the primary topic: in this case, blood flow through the heart. The line drawing will probably be more
effective because it limits attention to just the topic.
19. a)
Which sentence is easier to understand?
b) Why?
Sentence A:
Use this
procedure only when the author is unconscious.
Sentence B:
Do not use this
procedure except when the author is unconscious.
Sentence A. Sentences with negatives (not, un-,
non-, and so on) and qualifiers (except, only) are deadly, even for
knowledgeable readers.
20. Readers recall the visual impression of a
graphic better than the message presented by the data: true or false?
True. Readers are often mislead by the visual
impression of a graphic. The four
best known examples of misleading graphics are the suppressed zero, the elastic
scales, the double-perspective, and the double-scale problem. The most effective way (and the only
ethical way) to use a graphic is to make the visual impression correspond to
the message of the data.
The Suppressed Zero
Problem
The suppressed zero visually distorts
the relationships among quantities.
In the above example, A is actually two-thirds as large as B, but the
suppressed zero makes A appear to be less than one-quarter the size of B.
The Elastic Scale Problem
Uneven scales visually distort
relationships among trends.
Compressing the scale of the X axis (representing time in this example)
makes changes seem more sudden.
Compressing the scale of the Y axis makes the changes seem more
gradual. Scales with equal
intervals are preferred.
The Double Perspective
Problem
The double perspective problem confuses
the reader by shifting the visual reference point, in this case from the back
of the column to the front.
|
|
The Double-Scale Problem
Charts with two scales, each for a
different line of data, can imply a false relationship between the lines,
depending on how the scales are presented.
Lines A, B, and C represent the same data, but their visual relationships
depend on how their respective scales are drawn. Here, Line B seems to increase at half
the rate of Line A, whereas Line C seems to increase at a quarter of the
rate. Unless the vertical scales
are mathematically related, the relationship between the lines can be distorted
simply by changing one of the scales.
Effective Introductions
•
Proposed by J. Mathes and
Dwight Stevenson. Designing technical
reports.
Author's Original Opening:
The symmetrically spiraled curve
program was designed and written to compute the basic characteristics of a symmetrically
spiraled circular curve. In
addition to those characteristics, the program will also compute the deflection
angles required to set stakes at quarter stations (every 25 feet) along the
curve.
DATA CARDS
Two data cards are required by the
symmetrically spiraled curve program for every curve that is to be computed. .
.
Revised Opening:
Symmetrically spiraled curves
accommodate the natural driving path of the motorist. When properly designed, these curves
produce a more comfortable and safer ride.
However, engineers have hesitated to use these curves because of the
difficulty in calculating them.
Consequently, the symmetrically spiraled curve program was designed and
written to compute the basic characteristics of the curve more easily. This memo explains how to arrange the
necessary data on computer cards so that highway engineers can use the
symmetrically spiraled curve program to design a curve.
Structure
of the Revised Opening:
1. The Problem (the condition that prompted the work):
"Symmetrically
spiraled curves accommodate the natural driving path of the motorist. When properly designed, these
curves produce a more comfortable and safer ride. However, engineers have hesitated
to use these curves because of the difficulty in calculating them."
2. The Approach (the action taken or the hypothesis tested): "Consequently, the symmetrically
spiraled curve program was written to quickly compute the basic characteristics
of the curve."
3. The Report (the purpose and organization of the
document): "This
memo explains how to arrange the necessary data on computer cards so that
highway engineers can use the symmetrically spiraled curve program to design a
curve."
READABILITY formulas
• Leading researchers: Robert Gunning; Rudolph Flesch
• More than 100 developed in the past 50 years:
about the right size for a PhD dissertation
• Mathematical formulas, most of which rely on word length, sentence
length, syllable counts, and weighted vocabularies
• Assign a grade level to a document, based on tests in which 50% of
children answer correctly 50% of the questions
• Have done more harm than good by stressing the score at the expense
of usability
• Example: Gunning's Fog index
Reading grade level = 0.4 x
(average sentence length in words + percentage of words with three or
more syllables)
• These sentences have identical readability scores:
"Our patients had 44% fewer
cavities with Crest."
"cavities had Crest with fewer Our
44% patients."
TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR
• Leading researcher: Naom Chomsky
• Virtually all research into linguistics has been directed to
supporting or refuting Chomsky's theories.
• The kernal sentence (e.g., Patients sleep.) is transformed into
other, predictable grammatical structures.
• Text can be classified by the number and types of transformations
and tested for readability.
• Results are reported in terms of grammatical complexity.
• For example:
Kernal sentence: The patient swallowed a pill.
"There" transformation:There is a patient who swallowed a pill.
Negative transformation: The patient did not swallow a pill.
Question transformation: Did
the patient swallow a pill?
Passive transformation: A
pill was swallowed by the patient.
GIVEN-NEW CONTRACT
• Leading researcher: Wallace Chafe; H. H. Clark; Susan Haviland
• "New" or unknown information (usually at the end of the
sentence) is tied to "given" or previously presented or known
information (usually at the beginning of the sentence).
• "Echo" words: words or synonyms that refer to elements of
the previous sentence
• For example:
1. The hospital installed its new
computer system in 1983.
2. The system was upgraded in 1985 to
accommodate the new DRG categories.
3. The system and the new DRG
categories have presented the medical
staff with new reporting problems.
4. These problems are the subject of
today's meeting.
PROPOSITION THEORY
• Leading researcher:
Walter Kintsch
• A proposition is a unit of meaning; a relationship between two
concepts
• Reading time varies with propositional density, even when the number
of words and clauses, sentence and paragraph length, and other variables remain constant.
• For example, the following sentence has four
propositions:
A new
ventilator stood by the bed.
1. There was a ventilator.
2. It was new.
3. It was standing.
4. It was by the bed.
PROTOCOL
ANALYSIS
• Leading researcher: Linda Flower
• Readers are recorded as they say aloud everything that goes through
their minds when reading and interpreting a document.
• The statements readers make as they paraphrase or process what they
read are analyzed for patterns.
• These patterns are related to changes that writers might make in
preparing documents.
• For example:
Original passage: "No part of such
financing shall be used to augment nonbusiness expenditures..."
Rephrase: "Money can't be used for
personal expenses..."
Scenario: You must use your loan only
for business-related expenses, such
as buying equipment or repairing
buildings.
SCENARIO PRINCIPLE
• Leading researcher: Linda Flower
• "Functional prose should be structured around a human agent performing actions in a particularized setting."
• For example:
Critical
Differences between Old and Revised Documents
______________________________________________________
Kind of
Writer's
Document Goal Strategy
Example
Consequence
______________________________________________________
Old To Teach
Develop a
Focus on
A Definition
Documents
Information
Concept-
"Eligibility"
Centered
Network
New
To Help the
Develop a
Focus on the A Scenario
Documents
Reader Act
Human-
"Borrower"
Centered
Network
______________________________________________________
SCHEMA THEORY AND ACTIVATED SEMANTIC CONTEXTS
• Leading researchers: H. Head; F. C. Bartlett; Jean Piaget
• A schema is a set or pattern of relationships that allow readers to
infer meaning from limited information; schema structure expectations.
• Communication is improved when reader and writer share schema.
• Experts have more schema and more complex schema than do lay
persons.
• The writer should "activate" the schema for the reader
before presenting information
• Example: schema as humor
"He picked her up and held her smooth body
against his naked chest. His
fingers caressed her neck; his hands gently stroked her. Slowly they began to move in
unison----in the long, slow rhythm of love."
(A description of a man playing a guitar.)
• Example: schema as prejudice.
Consider the psychiatrist who observes that:
Patients who arrive early are anxious;
patients who arrive on time are compulsive;
patients who arrive late are resisting therapy.
REFERENCES
Anderson, P.
Brockmann, R. Miller, C. eds. New essays
in scientific communication: research, theory, and practice. New York: Baywood Publishing Company,
Inc., 1983, 254 pages.
Benson, P.
"Writing visually: design considerations in technical publications."
Technical Communication 1985;4:35-9.
Britton BK,
Woodward A, Binkley M, eds. Learning from textbooks: theory and
practice. Hillsdale, New
Jersey: Lawrence erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 1993, 197 pages.
Charrow PR,
Charrow VR. Making legal language
understandable: a psycholinguistic study of jury instructions. Columbia Law Review 1979;79:1306-733.
Duffy, T.
Waller, R. Designing usable texts. San Diego: Academic Press, 1985, 423
pages.
Felker, D. ed.
Document design: a review of the relevant
research. Washington, D.C.:
American Institutes for Research, Document Design Center, 1980, 171 pages.
Felker, D. et al. Guidelines for document designers. Washington, D.C.: American Institutes for
Research, Document Design Center, 1981, 117 pages.
Gould, J. ed.
Directions in technical writing
and communication. New York:
Baywood Publishing Company, Inc., 1978,
152 pages.
Mathes, J.
Stevenson, D. Designing technical
reports. Indianapolis: ITT
Bobbs-Merrill Educational Publishing Co., Inc., 1976, 396 pages.
Odell, L.
Goswami, D., eds.Writing in nonacademic
settings. New York: The
Guilford Press, 1985, 553 pages.
Redish, J. How to write regulations (and other legal
documents) in clear English.
Washington, D.C.: American Institutes for Research, Document Design
Center, 1981, 21 pages.
Redish, J.
Selzer, J. "The place of readability formulas in technical
communication." Technical
Communication 1985;4:46-52.
Roundy, N.
"Structuring effective technical reports." Technical Communication
1985;1:26-9.
Schriver
KA. Teaching writers to anticipate
readers' needs. Written
Communication 1992;2:179-208.
Souther, J.
"What management wants in the technical report." Journal of Engineering Education
1962;52:498-503.
Wurman
RS. Information Anxiety.
New York: Bantam Books, 1989.
•
Document Design Center,
American Institutes for Research, 3333 K Street, NW, Washington, DC 20007
•
For Baywood's Technical Communication Series: Baywood Publishing Co. Inc., Farmingdale,
NY 11735
Additional information:
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