Audience Analysis &

User-Centered Writing

Week 2

Technical Communication, DAHMEN

Who uses Tech Com?
 Readers—reading manuals, job aids, reports
 Users—attempting to use equipment, software,
machines
 Viewers—requiring visual aids to understand
processes, products and steps
 Listeners—listening while performing tasks, learning
new information through presentations
 Executives—making decisions
 Technicians—individuals who operate/repair
equipment
 Experts—who communicate with each other
Describing a Discourse
Community
« a group of people who share certain language-
using practices…the key term ‘discourse’ suggests
a communicty bound together primarily by its uses
of language, alothough bound perhaps by by other
ties as well, geographical, socioeconomic, ethnic,
professional and so on »
--Bizzell, 1992, P. 222 in Gurak and Lannon,
2004 p.15
How do end-users differ?

 Expertise
 Knowledge
 Age
 Culture
 Language
 Role in organization
 External or internal audiences
Some Typical Audiences

 Scientists
 Engineers
 Administrators
 Managers
 Lawyers
 Users
 ‘the Public’
What is their Purpose in
reading?
 To gain information
 To make a decision
 To learn how to perform a task
What information will help us
gear our product to the
appropriate user?
By exploring and researching…
 Previous knowledge
 Receptivity towards subject
 Interest in subject
 Attitudes towards topic
 Attitudes towards your organization
Primary vs. Secondary…
 Purposes
 Primary—first use of communication (teach a new
hardware system, promotional vs. informational)
 Secondary—broader applications (use as template for
other hardware systems, promotion, credibility, image)
 Audiences
 Primary—target audience for product (users of product at
AT&T, doctors prescribing a medicine)
 Secondary—potential audiences (users at other companies
for similar product, patients)
Why do we care about
Primary/Secondary Purposes
and/or
 Audiences?
Market product to wider audience
 Save time in future production
 Save money in future editing
 Make a more user-centered product with
broad appeal
How can learning about the
audience effect our output?
 Format
 Media
 Language
 Word choice or style
 Use of examples
 Length
 Genre of document
How do we learn about our
audiences?
 Interviews
 Observation
 Questionnaires
 Subject Matter Experts
 Personal experience
 Previous feedback
 Cultural background
 Research
 Examining similar communication products
Methods of Gathering
Information about your
Audience  Research

 Interviews
 Questionnaires
 Focus Groups
 Interviews¹

 Set of questions/’protocols’
 Conducted in person, via telephone, email (or
IM)
 Can be anonymous or no
 Can have varied question types (open ended
best)
 Can vary in length, usually 30 min

¹”Needs Analysis Tools.” Center for Education Integrating Science, Math and
Computing. Georgia Int. of Tech. July 30, 2003. Sept. 04, 2003.
<http://mime1.marc.gatech.edu/MM_Tools/NADA.html#interview>
Interviews
PROS CONS
 Good with  Can be seen as
complex/unclear threatening
topic  May answer to
 Are relatively brief ‘please’ you
 Can be altered  Questions may be
easily biased
 Can help create  Hard to schedule
empathy to
purpose
Questionnaires

 Paper or web presentation of questions

 Can be anonymous
 Mailed or web based or emailed
 Variety of questions possible
 Can vary in length
 Should take no more than 10-15 min. to do
Questionnaires
PROS CONS
 Good when  Easy to design but
anonymity is hard to perfect
needed  Lots of time to
 Efficient for distribute, collect
respondents if short and analyze
 Can adapt to  Not very flexible
different audiences  Low response rate
 Many types of
questions possible
Focus Groups

 Set of questions asked to small group of

people
 Usually done in person, possible over phone
or videophone
 4-7 people optimal
 Can be anonymous
 Can vary in length, usually less than 1 hour
Focus Groups
PROS CONS
 Good with  Time consuming
complex/unclear to set up and
topic
conduct
 May be good with
controversial topic  If range of status,
for reaching some reluctance
consensus
or resistance
 Questions can be
open or defined  Questions may be
 Can help create biased
empathy to purpose  Hard to schedule
Checklist for Audience
Analysis¹
1. Have I determined my explicit (primary) purpose
for my product?
 To inform, provide basis for decision, instruct
2. Have I identified my readers?
 Experts, technicians, executives, novices, mixed
3. Have I determined their purpose in receiving the
product?
4. Have I determined how much they know about the
subject?
5. Have I determined what they need to know?
6. Do I know their level of interest?
7. What is their attitude towards the product or my
organization?
¹ Adapted from: D. Pattow & W. Wresch. Communicating Technical Information.
(NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998) 53.
How can we adapt our product
to our audience?¹
 Add information readers need to understand your
document.
 Omit information your readers do not need.
 Change the level of the information you currently
have.
 Add examples to help readers understand.
 Change the level of your examples.
 Change the organization of your information.

¹McMurray, David. ‘Audience Analysis’. Online Technical Writing. 1 September

2003, <http://www.io.com/~hcexres/tcm1603/acchtml/aud.html>
Audience Adaptation, cont…

 Strengthen transitions.
 Write stronger introductions--both for the
whole document and for major sections.
 Create topic sentences for paragraphs and
paragraph groups.
 Change sentence style and length.
 Work on sentence clarity and economy.
 Use more or different graphics.
Audience Adaptation, cont.

 Break text up or consolidate text into

meaningful, usable chunks.
 Add cross-references to important
information.
 Use headings and lists.
 Use special typography, and work with
margins, line length, line spacing, type size,
and type style.
Learn More online…
 http://www.io.com/~hcexres/tcm1603/acchtml/aud.ht
ml (Online Tech Com textbook)
 http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/r
eportW/audience.html (OWL at Purdue University)
 http://www.fgcu.edu/onlinedesign/designDev.html
(Principles on Online Design, Florida Gulf Coast
University, application to Computers
 http://www.stedwards.edu/hum/drummond/staa.html
(Audience Analysis form from Dr. Laurie
Drummond)
More Online resources and
examples…
 http://www.cs.wpi.edu/~kal/netpub/NPaudienceanaly
sis.html (geared towards writing for online
documentation)
 http://www.fns.usda.gov/oane/MENU/Published/nutri

tioneducation/Files/esaa.pdf (sample report of

audience analysis for US Government about
nutrition for youth)
 http://www.fgcu.edu/onlinedesign/designDev.html

(The Health Communication Unit, application to health

issues)
Audience Analysis
Assignment
In groups of 2, address the following situation: an
increasing number of first-year students are dropping
out of your major because of low-grades, stress or
inability to keep up with the work. Your task is to
prepare a « survival guide » for incoming students.
You need to create an audience analysis worksheet
and summary following the questions and sections
outlined in the handout given to you in class and also
available at:
http://www.stedwards.edu/hum/drummond/staa.html
(adapted from assignment in Gurak and Lannon 2004,
p. 29