What role does political knowledge play in campaigning for and participation in direct democracy? A foundational principle of democracy is citizen participation in decision-making. This foundation assumes that citizens are at least somewhat knowledgeable about government and able to make informed choices. This analysis examines the role that meaningful decisions play in direct democracy, because “for voters to make meaningful decisions, they must understand the options on which they are deciding” (Dalton 1988: 13). This analysis uses three different methodologies to investigate this relationship. First, through qualitative analysis and a mail survey of petitioners, this study explores how petitioners view and approach the public. This study finds that expectations of political knowledge affects how petitioners approach the public and how much time they spend educating the public about their initiative. Second, through statistical (multi-level regression) analysis, this study investigates the impact of the ballot language on participation in individual ballot propositions. This study finds that ballot language is a significant barrier to participation. Third, through experimental analysis, this study connects measures of political knowledge and participation on ballot propositions written by petitioners across the country. This study finds that when confronted with more difficult ballot language voters are less likely to participate. However, when controlling for political knowledge this effect is truncated. The findings of this analysis argue the elite bias of direct democracy in ballot language, accessibility, and motives of petitioners. The study of participation in direct democracy and political knowledge across American states advances the theoretical understanding of democratic participation, and furthers our understanding of the role citizen political knowledge plays in policymaking.

The current state of much research on written patient education materials (WPEM) suggests that they are written in a manner that is too difficult even for educated patients to understand and remember. Much of the research in this area is focused on modification of the readability of WPEM, which has shown to be relatively ineffective. In this study, an attempt was made to determine if a theory-based method in revising WPEM for improved comprehensibility and memorability was effective. The effectiveness of three versions of WPEM regarding breast self-exams (BSEs) was examined; the original version without illustrations obtained from the American Cancer Society website, a version that was written at a lower readability level as measured by the Flesch-Kincaid readability formula, and a version with a lower readability level as measured by the Flesch-Kincaid readability formula and the increased use of concrete language as suggested by Dual Coding Theory. The researcher compared the percentage of recall of idea units recalled by 76 participants at two time periods: immediately after reading the randomly assigned version of WPEM and seven days after the initial reading. The WPEM that contained the lower readability level and concrete language was most recalled by participants both at immediate recall and delayed recall. In fact, the delayed recall of the WPEM that contained the lower readability level and concrete language after the seven-day period was almost equivalent to the immediate recall of the participants in the other two groups. A significant main effect was found for the forms of WPEM, F(2, 73) = 27.69, p = .00, n2 p = .43 with an observed power of 1.00. A significant main effect was found for time, F(1, 73) = 161.94, p <.00, n2 p = .69 with an observed power of 1.00. A significant interaction of WPEM and time was found, F(2, 73) = 5.07, p = .01, n2 p = .12 with an observed power of .80. Reported levels of frequency of performing BSEs and levels of confidence in performing BSEs were also analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test in relation to the three WPEM versions over time. Reported frequency was significantly greater after seven days, regardless of form of WPEM (WPEM A, p = .32; WPEM B, p = 1.00; WPEM C, p = .74). Levels of confidence were significantly greater after seven days, regardless of form of WPEM (WPEM A, p = ..02; WPEM B, p = .00; WPEM C, p = .00). Overall results indicate that combining reduced readability and increased concrete language is beneficial. The writing of WPEMs in a way that patients can understand should be supported by a theory, and infusing Dual Coding Theory in the writing of selected WPEMs may be beneficial for patients.

<p>Understanding technical documentation is of vital importance, since instructions and descriptions are given about how technical products are used, maintained and repaired. Because of the increased economic globalization, more and more documentation is both written in English by non-native English writers, and delivered to non-native English readers. More and more documentation is also translated by means of computerized aids. In order to improve comprehension and translatability of technical documentation, controlled languages are created. Controlled languages are subsets of ordinary languages, but with restricted vocabularies and writing rules.</p><p>The aim of this report is to discuss the advantages and disadvantages for Swedish export companies to use Simplified Technical English (STE), which is a controlled language, for their technical documentation. In this work technical writers are asked about their opinions of STE. Additionally, technical texts written in traditional English are compared with versions written in STE, in order to find out whether texts written in a controlled language are easier to read or not. Within the comparison, the differences between the versions are discussed and a readability measurement is done. The measurement showed that readability in technical documentation is improved by using STE. The writers’ opinions are illuminated in three areas, which are: higher documentation quality, reduced translation costs and reduced production costs.</p>

Tikslas: Nustatyti Kauno Medicinos Universiteto studentų ir atsitiktinių vaistinės lankytojų apklausos būdu ar Triptosan 150 mg kapsulės informacinis lapelis yra suprantamas. Tiriamieji asmenys: Bendras tiriamųjų skaičius yra 22 asmenys. 12 iš jų KMU studentai ir 10 vaistinės lankytojai. Visi asmenys turi daugiau kaip 18 metų. Du KMU studentai dalyvavo preliminariajame etape. Kiti 20 asmenų buvo apklausti pagrindiniame etape. Metodas: Klausimynas sudarytas iš 15 klausimų, skirtų Triptosan 150 mg vaistiniam preparatui. Klausimai atspindi vaistinio preparato saugumą, paskirtį ir įvairius įspėjimus. Tiriamasis turi atsakyti į klausimus, o atsakymus parodyti informaciniame lapelyje. Instruktuojantysis fiksuoja atsakymus, radimo vietą ir laiką, per kurį rastas atsakymas. Rezultatai: Didžioji dalis vyrų ir moterų bei studentų ir kitų dalyvių informaciją randa lapelyje. Dauguma moterų ir studentų informaciją randa nedelsiant, o vyrai ir kiti dalyviai per <1 minutę. Informacijos nerado 2,5 karto daugiau moterų nei vyrų, tačiau 3 kartus daugiau vyrų nei moter�� neteisingai atsakė į klausimus. Kiti dalyviai 2 kartus daugiau nei studentų nerado atsakymų ir beveik 4 kartus daugiau neteisingai atsakė į klausimus. Visiems dalyviams lapelis buvo suprantamas, o 95 % - lapelio kalba aiški. Lapelio suprantamumas yra 97,26 %. Išvados: Pagrindinis būdas rasti informaciją yra ją parodyti lapelyje, moterys informaciją randa greičiau už vyrus, o studentai už kitus dalyvius. Daugiau vyrų nei... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Objective: To evaluate whether Triptosan 150 mg capsules information leaflet is readable between Kaunas Medical University students and casual pharmacy visitors in a questioning way. Subjects: Total number of participants is 22. 12 participants are KMU students and 10 casual pharmacy visitors. All participants are over 18 years. 2 KMU participants were tested in the preliminary stage and the rest 20 participants were tested in the main stage. Method: Questionnaire was developed to include 15 questions about the Triptosan 150 mg medicinal product. The questions are addressed to medicinal product safety, purpose and various cautions. Interviewer captures the answers, finding places and the time, needed to find answer. Results: Most men, women, students and other participants’ information have found in the leaflet. Most women and students information have found immediately meanwhile men and other participants in less than 1 minute. 2,5 more times women in comparison with men haven‘t found information, but men 3 more times have failed in questions. Other participants 2 more times in comaprison with students haven‘t found the answers and nearly more than 4 times have failed in questions. The information leaflet was comprehensible for all participants and its language was clear for 95 % of participants. Readability of the leaflet is 97,26 %. Conclusions: The main way to find information is to show in the leaflet. Women information find faster in comparison with men and students... [to full text]

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Optimising outcomes for children with hearing impairment (HI) requires a family centred approach that prioritises parent involvement. Families must be provided with information to encourage participation; and meet their need for emotional support and knowledge. Diagnostic audiology reports can help provide this information, but their delivery alone is insufficient. If these reports are not readable and comprehendible they cannot meet national and international legal standards, nor can they support the health literacy of parents. The majority of New Zealand adults have insufficient health literacy skills, a concerning fact given the strong association between poor health literacy and negative health outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate a paediatric diagnostic audiology report, revise it and verify the revision. A mock audiology report was evaluated via a readability analysis and semi-structured interviews with parent participants. Results confirmed that the report was difficult to read and understand. Next, the report was revised using best practice guidelines and parental recommendations. Verification of the revision process with 32 participants revealed that parents who read the revised report had significantly greater comprehension, self-efficacy and perception ratings than parents who read the unrevised report. Additionally, the report’s readability was markedly improved. These results may have critical implications for parents and their children with HI. Incomprehensible audiology reports fail to support parental health literacy, promote understanding, encourage participation or offer emotional support. Because knowledge is power for these families, it is hoped that the findings of this study will be recognised and implemented into clinical practice.

Research conducted in the readability of texts shows that there is an extensive problem with learners' of all phases academic skills in terms of reading comprehension and insight into writing texts in accordance with generally accepted academic standards. It is important that sufficient attention and research are devoted to possible solutions to this problem, since various theorists have found that effective reading and writing skills are of great importance for learners' academic progress and achievement. A reason for this is that most academic material that is made available to learners appear in written format, and that learners have to report on their knowledge in the same format. Although educational institutions formulate academic texts (of which study guides form part) with a high readability level, the current study investigates some problems and shortcomings that appear in study guides. If the readability of the mentioned study material is increased in light of text linguistic insights, learners should have greater accessibility to the textual content, which could impact positively on academic achievement. With the above mentioned in mind, this study focuses on a text linguistic approach to investigating the readability of study guides which are written for first-year learners at a tertiary institution. The main problem addresses how lexical cohesive devices and conjunction markers can be included as part of a text linguistic approach to writing study guides, and how this can be used by authors of study guides in practice as a tool to increase the efficiency of the writing process. The research is conducted on the basis of various theories, which include Systemic Functional Linguistics, Halliday and Hasan's Cohesion theory and Stotsky's adaptation thereof for written academic texts, as well as Hyland's theory about academic metadiscourse. Applicable insights regarding text linguistic criteria for writing academic texts, which are identified through this literature study, are converted into a framework for text analysis and then implemented to investigate the effective use of specific textual markers in the obtained study guides. This will be done in a descriptive and primarily qualitative manner. Ten Afrikaans study guides, pertaining to diverse subject groups, and which were recently used at a tertiary institution as introductory study guides for first-year learners, form the data of this study. In order to conduct a reliable investigation, the data is analised procedurally (with reference to the mentioned text analytical model) by hand and also using WordSmith Tools. Based on both the literature study and the text analysis, guidelines that can be used when writing Afrikaans study guides are formulated from a text linguistic point of view. These guidelines may be used to supplement the existing guide used by writers of study guides at the particular institution. The possibility also exists that these guidelines can be used to improve and standardise the quality and readability of the mentioned learning material. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

Research conducted in the readability of texts shows that there is an extensive problem with learners' of all phases academic skills in terms of reading comprehension and insight into writing texts in accordance with generally accepted academic standards. It is important that sufficient attention and research are devoted to possible solutions to this problem, since various theorists have found that effective reading and writing skills are of great importance for learners' academic progress and achievement. A reason for this is that most academic material that is made available to learners appear in written format, and that learners have to report on their knowledge in the same format. Although educational institutions formulate academic texts (of which study guides form part) with a high readability level, the current study investigates some problems and shortcomings that appear in study guides. If the readability of the mentioned study material is increased in light of text linguistic insights, learners should have greater accessibility to the textual content, which could impact positively on academic achievement. With the above mentioned in mind, this study focuses on a text linguistic approach to investigating the readability of study guides which are written for first-year learners at a tertiary institution. The main problem addresses how lexical cohesive devices and conjunction markers can be included as part of a text linguistic approach to writing study guides, and how this can be used by authors of study guides in practice as a tool to increase the efficiency of the writing process. The research is conducted on the basis of various theories, which include Systemic Functional Linguistics, Halliday and Hasan's Cohesion theory and Stotsky's adaptation thereof for written academic texts, as well as Hyland's theory about academic metadiscourse. Applicable insights regarding text linguistic criteria for writing academic texts, which are identified through this literature study, are converted into a framework for text analysis and then implemented to investigate the effective use of specific textual markers in the obtained study guides. This will be done in a descriptive and primarily qualitative manner. Ten Afrikaans study guides, pertaining to diverse subject groups, and which were recently used at a tertiary institution as introductory study guides for first-year learners, form the data of this study. In order to conduct a reliable investigation, the data is analised procedurally (with reference to the mentioned text analytical model) by hand and also using WordSmith Tools. Based on both the literature study and the text analysis, guidelines that can be used when writing Afrikaans study guides are formulated from a text linguistic point of view. These guidelines may be used to supplement the existing guide used by writers of study guides at the particular institution. The possibility also exists that these guidelines can be used to improve and standardise the quality and readability of the mentioned learning material. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Bowling Green State University, 2009. / Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 137 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 1980. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2795.