Más contenido relacionado Similar a Redish understanding users (11) Redish understanding users1. Applying Research to Practice
– Understanding Users
Janice (Ginny) Redish, Ph.D.
Redish & Associates, Inc.
Bethesda, Maryland
@GinnyRedish
Conduit 2016
STC Mid-Atlantic Conference
April 2, 2016
2. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 2
Everything we write
is part of a conversation
Photo credits at the end of the slide deck
3. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 3
Conversations in writing may be synchronous
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5. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 5
But they are often asynchronous
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7. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 7
8. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 8
9. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 9
Work by Reva Daniel
with VBA counselors
in Jackson, Mississippi
See Redish
Technical Communication, 2003
Calls dropped by 82%
10. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 10
Issuance of a TOP command results in a line
zero condition.
To go to the beginning of your file, type TOP
and press Enter.
conversation is the contribution
of professional technical communicators
^
Asynchronous
11. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 11
Many devices, contexts, scenarios
– but always with people
12. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 12
noise
source encoder decoder receiver
Channel
Message
Claude Shannon’s 1948 model
popularized by Warren Weaver (1963)
Old communication models left out the people
13. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 13
noise noise
source encoder decoder receiver
Channel
Message
More important sources of noise are at the ends
14. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 14
source encoder decoder receiver
Channel
Message
Because those ends are people
15. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 15
And people are very complex!
16. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 16
Let’s look at the research
behind specific guidelines for practice
17. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 17
Example courtesy of Caroline Jarrett and Whitney Quesenbery
18. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 18
Research:
Everyone constructs meaning
based on their previous experiences.
Practice:
We must consider how people might
interpret (misinterpret) what we write.
19. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 19
Interested persons, on or before June 17,
2016, may submit to the Hearing Clerk, 1000
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
20000, written comments regarding this
proposal. Faxed comments will be accepted at 202-
555-1234. To submit comments electronically,
go to this site: www…....
A
20. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 20
B
21. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 21
Research:
People come to manuals and websites
with questions. They think in stories.
Practice:
Answer their questions in the order
they would ask them.
See also
Flower, Hayes, and Swarts, 1983
22. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 22
Dixon, 1987
23. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 23
Research:
People don’t read to the end.
They act as soon as they see a plausible
action.
Practice:
Put context before action.
Put “if” before “then.”
Read the conversation in what you write.
See also
Clark and Haviland, 1975
new
context
= given,
known then
24. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 24
Approved fumigation with methyl bromide at
normal atmospheric pressure, in accordance
with the following procedure, upon arrival at the
port of entry, is hereby prescribed as a
condition of importation for shipments of yams
from foreign countries.
If you are importing yams, [someone]
must fumigate them when they arrive at
the port of entry.
To fumigate yams, [someone] must use
this procedure:
25. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 25
In the presentation, this slide had a visual
with two versions of the lead-in to a form:
a noun-based description, followed by a call to action
a conversational phrase as if the site visitor were speaking
The conversational phrase generated many more leads and sales.
https://whichtestwon.com/archives/19429
with permission to show but not to distribute
26. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 26
In the presentation, this slide had a visual
with two versions of a call-to-action button.
One button used "my."
The other used "your."
"My" generated many more clicks.
https://whichtestwon.com/archives/20134
with permission to show but not to distribute
27. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 27
Research:
A / B testing of real websites
where content in the voice of the site visitor
brought more clickthroughs, leads, and sales.
Practice:
Write the conversation using pronouns.
In Q&A style, use “I” for the questions.
www.insurance.wa.gov
28. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 28
What does it mean to
"write the conversation"?
H. P. (Paul) Grice (1913 – 1988)
philosopher of language
Oxford Berkeley
studied conversation
Photo of H. P. Grice
From http://scottthornbury.
wordpress.com/tag/grice/
Origin of photo not known
29. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 29
Grice's 4 maxims
of how we cooperate in conversations
Quantity (information)
Make your contribution as informative as is required
for the current purposes of the exchange.
Do not make your contribution more informative
than is required.
Quality (truth)
Do not say what you believe to be false.
Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
30. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 30
Relevance
Be relevant.
Also see Schank, 2012, and Redish, 2012.
Manner (clarity)
Avoid obscurity of expression.
Avoid ambiguity.
Be brief.
Be orderly.
31. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 31
Research:
Work of scholars who study conversation:
Grice, Deborah Tannen, other linguists
Practice:
Cut! Cut! Cut!
Give people only what they need.
Put information in logical order.
Use words your users understand.
32. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 32
Major updates in Release 1.5 include the
implementation of a new archival history reporting
function which allows users to efficiently query
records that are associated with batches older than
18 months from the current system date. This new
feature allows users to run historical reports in the
system background while performing other activities
with the application. Previously generated reports
are also retained in the system for continued access
for seven days.
71 words
A
33. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 33
What's new in Release 1.5?
You can run historical reports in the background
while you are doing other tasks with the application.
You can ask for records that are older than 18
months.
After you generate a report, the system keeps it
available to you for 7 days.
48 words
B
34. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 34
28 words
What's new in Release 1.5?
Run historical reports while doing other tasks.
Ask for records older than 18 months.
See reports for 7 days after you run them.
C
35. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 35
Thanks to Caroline Jarrett
for finding the example for me.
36. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 36
37. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 37
38. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 38
Removing Red Wine Stains
Vanish Oxi Action Powder removes wine stains easily.
Important: Follow the package directions.
Do not use on wool, silk, or leather.
Do not use on wood, metals, or other finished or coated surfaces.
Instructions
1.Dissolve 1 scoop of Vanish Oxi Action Powder
in 4 litres of warm water. (warm = max. 40o
)
2.Soak the stained item.
• Colored item – soak max. 1 hour
• White item – soak max. 6 hours
3.Wash as usual, adding 1 scoop of Vanish to the wash.
How I might revise the Vanish Oxi content to be a better conversation
39. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 39
You may have to convince others
(Data from 4 research studies)
40. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 40
Convincing others – 1
Dana Botka, personal correspondence,
3/14/16; see also Botka, 2016
A B
6 of 6 preferred B
On a scale of 1 to 7 (1 being the lowest and 7 the highest),
rate the organization that created the information for a customer like you.
Professional: 3.88
Competent: 3.68
Approachable: 3
Professional: 6.46
Competent: 6.66
Approachable: 6.46
41. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 41
Summers, K. and Summers, M., 2005,
Reading and Navigational Strategies of Web Users with Lower Literacy Skills,
available at http://redish.net/images/stories/PDF/summers_asist2005.pdf
Convincing others – 2
42. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 42
Convincing others – 3
Voting – Redish, et al., 2010
Plain Language Makes a Difference When People Vote
45 participants, 3 sites, 2 ballots (counter-balanced)
on average, more accurate on the plain language ballot
82% preferred the plain language ballot
See also http://civicdesign.org
See more references at
http://redish.net/articles-a-slides/item/50-articles-slides-
voting
43. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 43
Convincing others – 4
Legal language – Trudeau, 2012
376 people (18 – 80) including 61 lawyers
given two versions of 20 sentences
overwhelmingly chose the plain language version
more education more likely
to chose the plain language version
54 of 61 lawyers chose sentence with “among
other things” rather than “inter alia”
See also Kimble, 2012 – for 50 examples of case
studies where plain language made a difference!
44. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 44
You can help
colleagues
plan and
evaluate
successful
conversations
45. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 45
Plan
Why?
(Purposes)
Who?
(Personas)
How?
(Contexts)
What?
(Conversations)
For every communication,
answer these questions:
46. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 46
When you write
this type of content
what do you want
to happen?
Email to your boss
because you want to go
to Conduit 2016
A product page for an
e-commerce site
Why?
Realize that everything we write to make people act
Online help for a product
Information about cancer
treatments
47. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 47
Why?
Focus on your “readers” and what you want them to do
to explain what’s new in this software release
We want
My communication will be successful if
[these people]_____________________________________
[do this] _________________________________________.
people who have been using our software
to use the new features appropriately
48. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 48
Who?
Create and use personas
Letting Go of the Words, 2nd
ed., p. 142; persona for the injured workers’
compensation program, Washington State Department of Labor & Industries
49. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 49
How?
Understand the contexts
50. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 50
What?
Plan successful conversations
Successful
communications
Your readers'
questionsYour key messages
51. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 51
Usability test on different devices
A usability test session of a website
Photo courtesy Alexander & Tom, Inc.
www.alextom.com
Barnum,
2010
Rubin &
Chisnell,
2008
Krug,
2010
www.usability.gov
Evaluate
52. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 52
Walk your personas
through their conversations
with your communication
53. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 53
Photo credits
From 123RF.com
Slides 11, 21: Asian man with tablet – mklrnt
Slide 11: old lady with paper – Paul Vasarhelyi
Slide 49: four people – Wavebreak Media, Ltd.
Slide 52: stressed woman – Marcos Calvo Mesa
Slide 52: older man with tablet – Anna Lurye
From Flickr creative commons
Slide 2: two men conversing – Polandeze
Slides 5, 7: man in office – russeljsmith
From iStockphoto.com
Slide 4: young people with phones
Slides 5, 7 man in green shirt
Slide 11: doctor, man with laptop, woman with clipboard
Slide 16: woman with lightbulbs
Slide 17: student in library, perplexed lady
Slide 18: woman at desk
Slide 21: young lady at computer
Slide 35: two gals with wine
Slide 39: group around table
Slide 44: gal and guy looking at computer together
Slide 49: lady with medicine bottle, mother and child
Slide 52: doctor, man in blue shirt with letter, gal with smartphone
54. © 2016, Janice (Ginny) Redish Applying Research to Practice Slide 54
Thank you!
More questions?
Write to me:
ginny@redish.net
Morgan Kaufmann / Elsevier
2nd
edition, 2012
@GinnyRedish
Ginny Redish
Janice (Ginny) Redish, Ph.D.
Redish & Associates, Inc.
Bethesda, Maryland
www.redish.net
Get the bibliography: www.redish.net home page, events, this event
See slides: I will link them next to the bibliography by Monday.
Notas del editor Grice's maxims are assumptions we have about conversation.They are expectations we all have as speakers and listenersin a face-to-face conversation.
175 words to 84 words