RE: Metrics for Technical Writing.

[Beth Agnew <Beth -dot- Agnew -at- senecac -dot- on -dot- ca>]

I think you also need to consider what you are hoping these numbers will
tell you. Is it that users will need help less often after a certain period
of working with the application? Or that they will decide the help isn't
helpful and stop clicking the help button? Are you anticipating that each
user clicking less often, or that users collectively will show a decline?

What you measure and how, i.e., your research design, must focus on the
activity you want to observe, and exclude so far as possible all other
variables or conditions. Be sure you are measuring the right thing. If what
you are trying to do is determine whether your help is helpful, a metric of
clicks to open help may not be the most effective method. Anecdotal
evidence, gained by asking users whether they found it helpful, might be
more informative.

Metrics are a tool to provide statistics, and as we all know statistics can
skew in various directions. What you are measuring and why as important as
how you do it.
--Beth

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+beth -dot- agnew=senecac -dot- on -dot- ca -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+beth -dot- agnew=senecac -dot- on -dot- ca -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com]On
Behalf Of Tara Charter
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2006 6:41 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Metrics for Technical Writing.

We will be measuring how often a user clicks the online help button on a new
web app. The expectation is that the number of clicks will decrease with
time.

Bill Swallow wrote:

> What do you want to track? That will define what metrics you should use.
>
> On 4/24/06, Smith, Kevin T <kevin -dot- t -dot- smith -at- bankofamerica -dot- com> wrote:
> > Are there any examples available for metrics that represent technical
writing? I would like to collect baseline numbers and track our activity in
an IT Development Shop.

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