Survey of Technical Manual Readability and Comprehensibility,
Abstract
Many Navy personnel have severe difficulty in reading and comprehending the training and technical manuals required on their jobs. Various reports indicate that the reading grade level of many Navy manuals range to the twelfth grade and above. But that the reading ability of the average person entering naval service is at approximately tenth grade level. To correct this mismatch, a large-scale program, originally termed the Navy Technical Manual System and recently renamed the Navy Technical Information Presentation Program, came into being. This program's goal is to investigate problems associated with technical manuals and to recommend actions to alleviate them. This report is concerned with the reading difficulty of manuals and how it might be improved. Its focus is on an extensive survey of the research literature, theoretical discussions, and existing state-of-the-art techniques and devices as they relate to the prediction (i.e., assessment) of the difficulty of manuals and the production (i.e., writing and printing) of manuals at difficulty levels appropriate to the intended user. Both the comprehensibility of text and that of graphics were addressed. Recommendations are made, based on the findings of this survey.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1977
- Accession Number
- ADA042335
Entities
People
- Thomas E. Curran
Organizations
- Bureau of Naval Personnel