- 1. Primary Audience Analysisand Technical Reporting
2. What Is Audience Analysis?
- Audience analysis is the process of dissecting & examining
theintendedreaders of a document in order to adapt your writing to
their needs, wants, beliefs attitudes, etc. Documents that meet the
primary audiences needs are more likely to be used.
- Sample Audience Analysis:
- We will prepare this technical description for the employees of
Corporation X. This population ranges in age from approximately 22
for recent college graduates to about 70 for our semi-retired
part-timers. The gender ratio of the corporation is fairly evenly
divided,approximately 40% female and 60% male. All readers will
have at least a high school diploma or the equivalent, and several
members of the management have MBAs. The corporation includes many
different ethnicities: approximately 40% Asian, 30% white, 10%
black, 10% Hispanic, and 10% other.
- This product uses completely new technology; therefore, we do
not anticipate having any experienced users. We expect that
employees who play video games on their break will embrace the new
technology, while those who dislike email and instant messaging
will resist it. We anticipate the engineers and designers will need
only a quick start guide; however, management and human resources
will need detailed directions, background, and definitions
3.
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- aprimary audienceof people who use your document in carrying
out their jobs
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- asecondary audienceof people who need to stay aware of
developments in the organization but who will not directly act on
or respond to your document
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- atertiary audienceof people who might take an interest in the
subject of the document
Review of Types of Audiences 4. Purpose of Audience Analysis
- The purpose of technical reporting is to give the audience
something valuable.Whether you are creating a technical description
or a persuasive proposal, if the audience does not understand it or
doesnt read it, the purpose will be lost.
- Be anaudience-centered writerand ask these three questions
before drafting:
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- 2.What do I want them to know, believe, or do because of my
document or presentation?
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- 3.What do I want this document to accomplish? What do I want
readers to do?
5.
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- the readers professional experience
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- the readers job responsibility
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- the readers personal characteristics
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- the readers personal preferences
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- the readers cultural characteristics
Factors to Consider About Your Target Reader 6. Why is Audience
Analysis Important?
- Audiences are egocentric.(Whats in it for me?)
- Audiences will judge writing based on what they already know
and believe.
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- What do they know or think they know?
- To be an effective communicator, you must relate your message
to a primary target audiences existing interests/concerns,
knowledge, and beliefs.
7.
General Categories of Audiences 8. Variables That Lie Beneath
the Surface:
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- Each variable on the right represents a spectrum of
attitudes.
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- The variables may not line up in a clear pattern for all
employees.
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- Different organizations within the same culture can vary
greatly.
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- An organizations cultural attitudes are fluid, not static.
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- distance between business life and private life
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- distance between ranks within a company
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- need to spell out details
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- attitudes toward uncertainty
9. Primary Audiences in the Workplace and Age
- Younger adults (under 30) and near-retirement adults are less
motivated by career-related innovation; a more engaging, persuasive
approach to communication is needed with those groups.
- Needs for caution and risk information increase with age of
primary audience. Younger audiences easily ignore safety info.
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- What are the implications for what to include or
emphasize?
10. Primary Audience and Gender
- Some technical fields are predominantly male (e.g. IT); others
are female (Vet Tech). If you are targeting the opposite gender in
a documentorboth genders out of a single-sex dominant culture, keep
in mind:
- Gender differences relate more toculture or sub-culturethan to
biology.
- Females are more people-oriented in getting information; males
are more thing oriented. Consider the implications for document
organization.
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- Men may feel communication should get to the point; women may
feel that approach is too direct and cold. Its hard to relate to
information that does not meet your expectations for tone and
organization.
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- Meet the expectations of the culture who the document is
targeting.
11. Primary Audiences and Education
- Opinions of well-educated, knowledgeable audiences are more
firmly held, and more consistent over time.
- Listening and reading skills increase with education.
- Changesin attitude of well-educated audiences are usually
related to new information they receive,notpersuasion.
- Knowledgeable readers want to know where the new info comes
from; they consider the source more often.
- Opinions of less-educated, less knowledgeable primary audiences
are more pessimistic about their capability to understandor
change.
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- Using a positive approach in documents for the general reader
is crucial.
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- Be aware that some fields dont expect change; others anticipate
it
12. Writing for Multi-lingual Audiences
- Define abbreviations and acronyms in a glossary.
- Avoid jargon unless youknowyour readers are familiar with
it.
- Use the active voice whenever possible.
- Be careful with graphics.
- Be sure someone from the target culture reviews the
document.
13. Document Contexts
- Examine the features of the audience unique to the
situation:
- What is the audiences disposition toward the:
- How motivated is the target audience to listen to or understand
the information? What is the nature of their motivation to
understand?
- Are theyforcedto read orwantto read the info? This can affect
the tone, structure, and organization of your document!
14. Questions Used to Analyze
- Questions to consider about your primary, target audience:
- What is your target audiences experience with your topic?
Positive, negative, or neutral? Is it unfamiliar info? Or info so
familiar your audience thinks they know more than they actually
do?
- What terms and concepts will they probably not understand? How
well-educated are they? Do they have good reading skills? Good
listening skills?
- What do you need to tell them so that they understand your
meaning?
- What misconceptions might they have?
15. Adapt Your Writing for the Primary Audience
- By tailoring writing in content, language, organization, and
amount of detail, to the target audience you have identified.
- Be specific in picking an audiencedont assume everyone who can
read English willneed orwantto read the info. Identifywhya target
group would want the informationand organize your document around
those needs.
- Talktoyour audience, notatthem. Change your vocabulary to fit
the knowledge of your target audience.
- Begin your documents with a clear statement of purpose and
clear indications of what the document does and doesnt contain, to
connect with the readers needs right away.
16. Adapt Writing for the Primary Audience
- Addinformation readers need to understand your document.
- Omitinformation your readers do not need.
- Write stronger introductions both for the whole documentandfor
major sections..
- Create topic sentencesfor paragraphs and paragraph groups.
- Add examplesto help readers understand.
- Change the organizationof your information.
- Change sentence lengthand style.
- Work onsentence clarityand economy.
- Use more or differentgraphics .
- Break text upor consolidate text into meaningful, usable
chunks.
- Add cross-referencesto important information.
17. Purpose of Your Document
- Along with audience,purposeshapes the writing situation of the
document. In most cases, writers can express the purpose of the
document in a sentence (for example, This document explains howto
upgradethe operating system on your computer).
- After assessing the writing situation, writers should determine
how the purpose will affect the scope, structure, organization,
sentence structure and length, vocabulary, and tone of the
document. Keep in mind that a document may have multiple purposes
or different purposes for different audiences.