Re: Text-Centered Evaluation

["Mark W. McBride, President" <spcsinc -at- INTERSURF -dot- COM>]

Did you hear the news? On 7 Nov 1995 12:41:24 -0600, our ether buddy
"Suzanne M. Faubl" <tscom002 -at- dunx1 -dot- ocs -dot- drexel -dot- edu> spaketh thusly:

:)text-based evaluation method.  Unfortunately, all the literature we have
:)found on readability formulas is overwhelmingly negative.  (That is,
:)research says that the grammatical analyses are not very useful.)

Hi Sue!

They aren't - because grammatically correct gobbledygook is still
grammatically correct gobbledygook. Talk to the U.S. Small Business
Administration - I analyzed one of their grammatically correct letters
and, as I recall, it tested at about the 26th grade level on
Flesch-Kincaid.

Here's the problem with readability formulae:

The formulae don't consider that a 6th grade education from a New
England private school may be vastly different from a 6th grade
education from a public school in East Podunk.

The formulae don't consider the experience of the reader, the reader's
interest or the reader's occupation.  So all are penalized by formulae
that were fine in their time but are generally inappropriate now because
of the ever widening education and experience gaps.

For instance, while a nurse's aide with an 8th reading level would
understand terms like "hypodermic" and "cardiopulmonary," the general
populace problem with that same reading level would not. [BTW, 18
million adults in the country can't read the word "poison." (Stats
courtesy of "People who read, Achieve!" Cap Cities/ABC literacy
initiative.)]

There's a solution, and we sell it.  It's called Corporate Voice(tm). It
doesn't care about grammar, but if the grammar is incorrect, you may
hurt the readability of the document, e.g. long, obtuse or wordy
sentences.

What it does is allow you to create style model templates of common
denominators for your audience, and match your documents to that model -
in terms of trade words, rhythm, cadence and audience-specific
readability. It gives you raw scores from Flesch-Kincaid, Flesch Reading
Ease and Gunning's Fog, but it also gives you *adjusted* scores that
compensate for the fact that your audience knows what "hypodermic"
means.

The common denominator for a person sending direct mail to the reader's
of "Cat Fancy" magazine, would be the style and readability of the
articles *in* "Cat Fancy" magazine.  If the person sent direct mail to
the reader's of that magazine using the style of "Scientific American"
or "The New York Times," much of the information would be lost.

Here's a real-life "fer instance" that might have changed history. The
speech former Pres. George Bush gave to the Iraqi people prior to thge
start of Desert Storm - warning them of the consequences of Saddam
Hussein's actions - was very well received in the U.S.  But not overseas
in Iraq. Why not? 1.) The speech by Pres. Bush tested at about 9th grade
on Flesch-Kincaid, meaning that - for the most part - those who would
understand the speech would have the equivalent of a U.S. highschool
education.  2.) Those who are educated in Iraq already were aligned with
Saddam Hussein. Education is a benefit in Iraq, not a right. 3.) The
speech was meant to stir up grass roots action, an internal civil war,
but it didn't reach the intended audience - those who had been alienated
by Saddam Hussein. 4.) I looked for a common denominator for that
audience and used the English-language version of "The Koran." It tested
at about the 5th grade on Flesch-Kincaid. Politics and other factors
aside, from my perspective, that's one of the prime reasons the speech
failed and some of my old Navy buddies were put in harm's way.

A demo of Corporate Voice(tm) and more info is available from our web
site, the address of which is in my sig.

Hope that helps. Shout if you have questions - you've got the boss' ear
and e-mail address.

Best, Mac
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