Journal articles: 'Readability measures'

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Douglas, Alana, and Rebecca J. Kelly-Campbell. "Readability of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in Adult Audiologic Rehabilitation." American Journal of Audiology 27, no. 2 (June 8, 2018): 208–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1044/2018_aja-17-0095.

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Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the readability of published patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) designed for use in adult audiologic rehabilitation. The readability results were compared with the readability levels recommended for health information by health literacy experts. Method Reading grade levels were calculated using the Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level Formula (Flesch, 1948), Gunning Fog Index (Gunning, 1952), Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (McLaughlin, 1969), and FORCAST (Caylor, Sticht, Fox, & Ford, 1973) readability formulas for 10 published PROMs. Descriptive statistics were computed across the different PROM sections: instructions, items, response scale, and overall contents of the measure directed toward respondents. Results The majority of the PROM sections exceeded the 6th grade reading level recommended by health literacy experts, regardless of the formula applied. All PROM sections exceeded the 6th grade reading level when calculated according to the FORCAST formula, the most appropriate readability formula for use with a nonnarrative text format, such as PROMs. Conclusions When developing or reevaluating PROMs designed for use in adult audiologic rehabilitation, researchers should consider ways to improve the readability of their measure, as poor readability may affect the validity of the empirical data collected using the PROM. Additionally, the adequate readability of audiologic PROMs is required if patient/family-centered care values are to be adhered to within the field of adult audiologic rehabilitation.

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Wysocki, T., K. J. Tarnowski, and D. M. Allen. "Readability of Diabetes Self-Report Measures." Diabetes Care 12, no. 10 (November 1, 1989): 752–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.2337/diacare.12.10.752.

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Chang, Yu-Tzu, and Dan N. Stone. "Why does decomposed audit proposal readability differ by audit firm size? A Coh-Metrix approach." Managerial Auditing Journal 34, no. 8 (September 2, 2019): 895–923. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/maj-02-2018-1789.

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Purpose This paper aims to introduce the emerging artificial-intelligence-based readability metrics (Coh-Metrix) to examine the effects of firm size on audit proposal readability. Design/methodology/approach Coh-Metrix readability measures use emerging computation linguistics technology to better assess document readability. These metrics measure co-relations of words, sentences and paragraphs on multi-dimensions rather than adopting the unidimensional “bag of words” approach that examines words in isolation. Using eight Coh-Metrix orthogonal principal component factors, the authors analyze the Chang and Stone (2019) data set comprised of 370 hand-collected audit proposals submitted by audit firms for the US state and local governments’ audit service contracts. Findings Audit firm size has a significant impact on the readability of audit proposals. Specifically, as measured by the traditional readability metric, the proposals from smaller firms are more readable than those submitted by larger firms. Furthermore, decomposed readability metrics indicate that smaller firm proposals evidence stronger (deep) text cohesion, whereas larger firm proposals evidence a stronger narrative structure and higher connectivity (relational indicators) among proposal elements. Unlike the traditional readability metric, however, the emergent readability metrics are uncorrelated with auditor selection. Research limitations/implications Work remains to develop and validate Coh-Metrix measures that are specific to the context of accounting and auditing practice. Future research can use emerging readability measures to examine various textual features (e.g. text cohesion) in finance or accounting related documents. Practical implications The results provide practitioners with insight into the proposal writing strategies and practices of larger and smaller firms. In addition, the results highlight the differing audit firm selection outcomes from traditional and Coh-Metrix readability metrics. Originality/value This study introduces new data and holistic readability measures to the auditing literature.

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Coco, Laura, Sonia Colina, Samuel R. Atcherson, and Nicole Marrone. "Readability Level of Spanish-Language Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in Audiology and Otolaryngology." American Journal of Audiology 26, no. 3 (September 18, 2017): 309–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1044/2017_aja-17-0018.

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Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the readability level of the Spanish versions of several audiology- and otolaryngology-related patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and include a readability analysis of 2 translation approaches when available—the published version and a “functionalist” version—using a team-based collaborative approach including community members. Method Readability levels were calculated using the Fry Graph adapted for Spanish, as well as the Fernandez-Huerta and the Spaulding formulae for several commonly used audiology- and otolaryngology-related PROMs. Results Readability calculations agreed with previous studies analyzing audiology-related PROMs in English and demonstrated many Spanish-language PROMs were beyond the 5th grade reading level suggested for health-related materials written for the average population. In addition, the functionalist versions of the PROMs yielded lower grade-level (improved) readability levels than the published versions. Conclusion Our results suggest many of the Spanish-language PROMs evaluated here are beyond the recommended readability levels and may be influenced by the approach to translation. Moreover, improved readability may be possible using a functionalist approach to translation. Future analysis of the suitability of outcome measures and the quality of their translations should move beyond readability and include an evaluation of the individual's comprehension of the written text.

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McHugh, R. Kathryn, Dawn E. Sugarman, Julia S. Kaufman, Sara Park, Roger D. Weiss, and Shelly F. Greenfield. "Readability of Self-Report Alcohol Misuse Measures." Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 75, no. 2 (March 2014): 328–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2014.75.328.

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Beckman, Heidi T., and Robert J. Lueger. "Readability of self-report clinical outcome measures." Journal of Clinical Psychology 53, no. 8 (December 1997): 785–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1097-4679(199712)53:8<785::aid-jclp1>3.0.co;2-f.

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Stone, Gerard William, and Lee Parker. "A comment on “The struggle to fabricate accounting narrative obfuscation: an actor-network-theoretic analysis of a failing project”." Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management 13, no. 1 (April 18, 2016): 86–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/qram-01-2016-0003.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a comment on “The struggle to fabricate accounting narrative obfuscation: An actor-network-theoretic analysis of a failing project” by Brian Rutherford. Design/methodology/approach The paper discusses issues highlighted by Rutherford regarding the unresolved limitations of the Flesch formulaic approach to readability analysis and the narrow focus of readability research in accounting. Findings Commencing with an overview of an important shift in the use of the Flesch formula in accounting readability research in 2004, the paper outlines the emergence of supplementary measures and proxies of readability and reader accessibility of accounting prose. When used in combination with Flesch, the two measures augment readability analysis, ameliorate the formula’s limitations and broaden readability research scope and focus. Originality/value The paper gives impetus to the development of additional supplementary measures and proxies of readability and reader access which are necessary to further expand the horizons of accounting readability research and meet ongoing changes to the contemporary accounting communications landscape.

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Goodrich, R. A. "Re-reading readability." Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 12, no. 2 (January 1, 1989): 107–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/aral.12.2.07goo.

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Abstract This brief article critically examines the assumptions and shortcomings of lexico-syntactically based measures of readability, using the popular Fry’s readability scale as its prime example. Thereafter, it explores an alternative semantic approach to the issue by re-focusing upon three crucial cohesive factors in the development of textual meaning that Fry’s formula ignores, to its cost.

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Allison, David B., and Ronald D. Franklin. "The Readability of Three Measures of Dietary Restraint." Psychotherapy in Private Practice 12, no. 3 (November 12, 1993): 53–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/j294v12n03_08.

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Prout, H. Thompson, and Renee Chizik. "Readability of child and adolescent self-report measures." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 56, no. 1 (1988): 152–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-006x.56.1.152.

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Abernathy, John L., Feng Guo, Thomas R. Kubick, and Adi Masli. "Financial Statement Footnote Readability and Corporate Audit Outcomes." AUDITING: A Journal of Practice & Theory 38, no. 2 (August 1, 2018): 1–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.2308/ajpt-52243.

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SUMMARY We examine whether the readability of financial statement footnotes in the annual report is informative about audit engagement risk. Using various readability measures, we predict and find that firms with less readable footnotes have longer audit report lag, incur higher audit fees, and are more likely to receive a first time modified going concern opinion. We also show that readability of footnotes is associated with a higher likelihood of financial misstatements and future accounting-related litigation. Our results are robust to several measures of readability used in prior literature, as well as different specifications and design choices, revealing that financial statement footnote readability provides incremental information about audit engagement risk that affects auditor-client contracting. Data Availability: Data are obtained from public sources identified in the paper.

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Arastoopoor, Sholeh. "Domain-specific readability measures to improve information retrieval in the Persian language." Electronic Library 36, no. 3 (June 4, 2018): 430–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/el-01-2017-0007.

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Purpose The degree to which a text is considered readable depends on the capability of the reader. This assumption puts different information retrieval systems at the risk of retrieving unreadable or hard-to-be-read yet relevant documents for their users. This paper aims to examine the potential use of concept-based readability measures along with classic measures for re-ranking search results in information retrieval systems, specifically in the Persian language. Design/methodology/approach Flesch–Dayani as a classic readability measure along with document scope (DS) and document cohesion (DC) as domain-specific measures have been applied for scoring the retrieved documents from Google (181 documents) and the RICeST database (215 documents) in the field of computer science and information technology (IT). The re-ranked result has been compared with the ranking of potential users regarding their readability. Findings The results show that there is a difference among subcategories of the computer science and IT field according to their readability and understandability. This study also shows that it is possible to develop a hybrid score based on DS and DC measures and, among all four applied scores in re-ranking the documents, the re-ranked list of documents based on the DSDC score shows correlation with re-ranking of the participants in both groups. Practical implications The findings of this study would foster a new option in re-ranking search results based on their difficulty for experts and non-experts in different fields. Originality/value The findings and the two-mode re-ranking model proposed in this paper along with its primary focus on domain-specific readability in the Persian language would help Web search engines and online databases in further refining the search results in pursuit of retrieving useful texts for users with differing expertise.

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Eugene Baker, H. "The Impact of Readability Level on Questionnaire Measures Reliability." Management Research News 16, no. 4 (April 1993): 1–5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/eb028274.

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Kaufman, Keith L., Kenneth J. Tarnowski, Susan J. Simonian, and Karen Graves. "Assessing the readability of family assessment self-report measures." Psychological Assessment 3, no. 4 (1991): 697–700. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.3.4.697.

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McHugh, R. Kathryn, and Evelyn Behar. "Readability of self-report measures of depression and anxiety." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 77, no. 6 (2009): 1100–1112. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0017124.

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Dorismond, Christina, Zainab Farzal, Nicholas J. Thompson, Saangyoung E. Lee, and Carlton J. Zdanski. "Readability analysis of pediatric otolaryngology patient-reported outcome measures." International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology 140 (January 2021): 110550. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2020.110550.

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Richards, Lauren K., R. Kathryn McHugh, Elizabeth M. Pratt, and Heather Thompson-Brenner. "Readability and comprehension of self-report binge eating measures." Eating Behaviors 14, no. 2 (April 2013): 167–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2013.02.003.

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Stone, Gerard William, and Sumit Lodhia. "Readability of integrated reports: an exploratory global study." Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal 32, no. 5 (June 17, 2019): 1532–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/aaaj-10-2015-2275.

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Purpose A goal of integrated reporting (IR) under the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC)’s leadership is to provide clearly written, comprehensible and accessible information. In light of this objective, the purpose of this paper is to explore the readability and accessibility of integrated reports, an issue magnified by the IIRC’s continual commitment to clear and readable report language, and its intention for IR to become the corporate reporting norm. Design/methodology/approach In a whole text software facilitated analysis, the study utilises readability measures and supplementary measures of reader accessibility in a multi-year analysis of a large sample of global integrated reports sourced from the IIRC examples database. Findings The findings highlight the low readability of analysed integrated reports and indicate that readability is not improving. The supplementary measures suggest sub-optimal use of visual communication forms and overuse of structural presentation techniques which may contribute to reader accessibility of the analysed reports. Research limitations/implications The study extends readability analysis to an emerging corporate reporting phenomenon and its findings contribute to the growing IR literature. The study applies supplementary measures of reader accessibility which advance the methods available to assess the communication efficacy of integrated and other corporate reports. Practical implications The analysis of the readability and accessibility of integrated reports in the study indicates that the IIRC’s goal of clear, comprehensible and accessible reporting is not reflected by reporters’ practices. This has implications for the IIRC, reporting organisations, report readers and regulators. Originality/value The study represents the first large-scale analysis of the readability and accessibility of global integrated reports.

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Bilal, Dania, and Li-Min Huang. "Readability and word complexity of SERPs snippets and web pages on children’s search queries." Aslib Journal of Information Management 71, no. 2 (March 18, 2019): 241–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ajim-05-2018-0124.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the readability and level of word complexity of search engine results pages (SERPs) snippets and associated web pages between Google and Bing. Design/methodology/approach The authors employed the Readability Test Tool to analyze the readability and word complexity of 3,000 SERPs snippets and 3,000 associated pages in Google and Bing retrieved on 150 search queries issued by middle school children. Findings A significant difference was found in the readability of SERPs snippets and associated web pages between Google and Bing. A significant difference was also observed in the number of complex words in snippets between the two engines but not in associated web pages. At the engine level, the readability of Google and Bing snippets was significantly higher than associated web pages. The readability of Google SERPs snippets was at a much higher level than those of Bing. The readability of snippets in both engines mismatched with the reading comprehension of children in grades 6–8. Research limitations/implications The data corpus may be small. Analysis relied on quantitative measures. Practical implications Practitioners and other mediators should mitigate the readability issue in SERPs snippets. Researchers should consider text readability and word complexity simultaneously with other factors to obtain the nuanced understanding of young users’ web information behaviors. Additional theoretical and methodological implications are discussed. Originality/value This study measured the readability and the level of word complexity embedded in SERPs snippets and compared them to respective web pages in Google and Bing. Findings provide further evidence of the readability issue of SERPs snippets and the need to solve this issue through system design improvements.

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Scharff, Lauren, Alyson Hill, and Albert Ahumada. "Discriminability measures for predicting readability of text on textured backgrounds." Optics Express 6, no. 4 (February 14, 2000): 81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/oe.6.000081.

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Taylor, Deanna J., Lee Jones, Laura Edwards, and David P. Crabb. "Patient-reported outcome measures in ophthalmology: too difficult to read?" BMJ Open Ophthalmology 6, no. 1 (June 2021): e000693. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjophth-2020-000693.

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ObjectivePatient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are commonly used in clinical trials and research. Yet, in order to be effective, a PROM needs to be understandable to respondents. The aim of this cross-sectional analysis was to assess reading level of PROMs validated for use in common eye conditions.Methods and analysisReadability measures determine the level of education a person is expected to have attained to be able to read a passage of text; this was calculated using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, FORCAST and Gunning-Fog tests within readability calculations software package Oleander Readability Studio 2012.1. Forty PROMs, previously validated for use in at least one of age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and/or diabetic retinopathy, were identified for inclusion via a systematic literature search. The American Medical Association (AMA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommend patient materials should not exceed a sixth-grade reading level. Number of PROMs exceeding this level was calculated.ResultsMedian (IQR) readability scores were 7.9 (5.4–10.5), 9.9 (8.9–10.7) and 8.4 (6.9–11.1) for Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, FORCAST and Gunning-Fog test, respectively. Depending on metric used, this meant 61% (95% CI 45% to 76%), 100% (95% CI 91% to 100%) and 80% (95% CI 65% to 91%) exceeded the recommended threshold.ConclusionMost PROMs commonly used in ophthalmology require a higher reading level than that recommended by the AMA and NIH and likely contain questions that are too difficult for many patients to read. Greater care is needed in designing PROMs appropriate for the literacy level of a population.

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Zhang, Hai Bo, Guo Dong Liu, and Hong Miao Zhao. "Reliability Assurance Measures of CNC System Software." Advanced Materials Research 418-420 (December 2011): 2182–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.418-420.2182.

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Based on the technology characteristics of CNC system software, the corresponding assurance measures are set for the reliability in design stage, program implementation stage and software testing stage respectively. CNC system software reliability is improved by modularizing program design and structure program design, code review and program readability, using different reliability testing methods. Finally the purpose is accomplished that the whole reliability of CNC system software is improved.

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Velte, Patrick. "Associations between the financial and industry expertise of audit committee members and key audit matters within related audit reports." Journal of Applied Accounting Research 21, no. 1 (September 13, 2019): 185–200. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jaar-10-2018-0163.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus on audit committees’ financial and industry expertise (FIE) and their impact on the readability of key audit matters (KAMs). Design/methodology/approach Based on an agency-theoretical framework, analyses are conducted of data from a sample of UK premium listed companies for the fiscal years 2014–2017 (i.e. 1,319 firm-year observations). Correlation and regression analyses are conducted to evaluate possible associations between FIE in audit committees and KAM readability. The author relies on popular readability measures (Flesch Reading Ease and Fog Index). Findings Audit committees’ FIE and KAM readability are positively connected. Combined FIE also has a stronger effect than either financial or industry expertise alone. Research limitations/implications Companies, regulators and researchers could be significantly affected by the finding that audit committees’ FIE can have a considerable impact on KAM readability. Originality/value The analysis of the link between audit committees’ FIE and KAM readability makes a contribution to prior empirical research on KAM.

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Rameezdeen, Raufdeen, and Anushi Rodrigo. "Textual complexity of standard conditions used in the construction industry." Construction Economics and Building 13, no. 1 (March 8, 2013): 1–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.5130/ajceb.v13i1.3046.

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Clearly written communication aids the understanding of construction contracts, resulting in less disputation. Past research, using opinion surveys rather than objective criteria, shows that construction contracts lack clarity and standard forms have become complex over time. The study outlined in this paper uses three objective measures of clarity developed by linguists to establish the readability of construction contracts. In addition, thirty industry professionals participated in a Cloze Test which measured the level of comprehension of clauses concerning disputes. The study verifies that contract conditions are very difficult to read, with college level reading skills needed to comprehend half of the clauses. However, the hypothesis that standard forms have become complex over time was not supported by the study. The study establishes a linear relationship between readability and comprehension, proving the hypothesis that improved readability increases the comprehension of a contract clause.

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Friedman, Daniela B., and Laurie Hoffman-Goetz. "A Systematic Review of Readability and Comprehension Instruments Used for Print and Web-Based Cancer Information." Health Education & Behavior 33, no. 3 (June 2006): 352–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1090198105277329.

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Adequate functional literacy skills positively influence individuals' ability to take control of their health. Print and Web-basedcancer informationis oftenwritten at difficult readinglevels. This systematic review evaluates readability instruments (FRE, F-K, Fog, SMOG, Fry) used to assess print and Web-based cancer information and word recognition and comprehension tests (Cloze, REALM, TOFHLA, WRAT) that measure people's health literacy. Articles on readability and comprehension instruments explicitly used for cancer information were assembled by searching MEDLINE and Psyc INFO from 1993 to 2003. In all, 23 studies were included; 16 on readability, 6 on comprehension, and 1 on readability and comprehension. Of the readability investigations, 14 focused on print materials, and 2 assessed Internet information. Comprehension and word recognition measures were not applied to Web-based information. None of the formulas were designed to determine the effects ofvisuals ordesignfactorsthat couldinfluencereadabilityandcomprehensionofcancereducationinformation.

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Meleo-Erwin, Zoë, Corey Basch, Joseph Fera, Danna Ethan, and Philip Garcia. "Readability of online patient-based information on bariatric surgery." Health Promotion Perspectives 9, no. 2 (May 25, 2019): 156–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.15171/hpp.2019.22.

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Background: Web-based patient education literature has been shown to be written at reading levels far above what is recommended. Little is known about the overall readability of current internet-based bariatric surgery information. The purpose of this study was to assess the readability of current bariatric material on the internet. Methods: The term "weight loss surgery" was searched using the Chrome browser on the first 15pages of URLs that appeared with content written in English. Using five readability measures, scores were generated using Readable.io for written content on a sample of 96 websites. Scores were sorted into the readability categories of "easy," "average," and "difficult." Results: Almost 93% of websites, both .com and .org, sampled received an unacceptable readability score on each assessment. Conclusion: Accurate and appropriate information about bariatric procedures is critical for patient comprehension and adherence to recommended protocols.

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Baazeem, Ibtehal, Hend Al-Khalifa, and Abdulmalik Al-Salman. "Cognitively Driven Arabic Text Readability Assessment Using Eye-Tracking." Applied Sciences 11, no. 18 (September 16, 2021): 8607. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/app11188607.

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Using physiological data helps to identify the cognitive processing in the human brain. One method of obtaining these behavioral signals is by using eye-tracking technology. Previous cognitive psychology literature shows that readable and difficult-to-read texts are associated with certain eye movement patterns, which has recently encouraged researchers to use these patterns for readability assessment tasks. However, although it seems promising, this research direction has not been explored adequately, particularly for Arabic. The Arabic language is defined by its own rules and has its own characteristics and challenges. There is still a clear gap in determining the potential of using eye-tracking measures to improve Arabic text. Motivated by this, we present a pilot study to explore the extent to which eye-tracking measures enhance Arabic text readability. We collected the eye movements of 41 participants while reading Arabic texts to provide real-time processing of the text; these data were further analyzed and used to build several readability prediction models using different regression algorithms. The findings show an improvement in the readability prediction task, which requires further investigation. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first study to explore the relationship between Arabic readability and eye movement patterns.

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Dobler, Judith M., and Faith D. Gilroy. "Psychology of the Scientist: LV. Social Psychologists' Perceptions of Journals' Readability: How Consistent are They?" Perceptual and Motor Skills 65, no. 1 (August 1987): 231–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.2466/pms.1987.65.1.231.

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Psychologists have long been criticized for the quality of their prose. This study shows, however, that one commonly accepted feature of good writing, readability, is perceived accurately in professional psychology journals by social psychologists and, also, though with less certainty, by their students. The professionals' perceptions are remarkably consistent: they agree when they rank their journals on readability and again on importance. Their perceptions are also realistic: the rankings of readability agree, on the whole, with the objective measures. Even their students are able to perceive, roughly, the journals' levels of readability. In addition, the psychologists' rankings of importance do not contaminate their rankings of readability, although their familiarity with the journals may. Finally, their journals are more alike than different: no significant differences appear in over-all Flesch scores, in polysyllabic words, in sentence length, or in embedded words, despite the very large sample analyzed.

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Hesarzadeh, Reza, and Ameneh Bazrafshan. "Corporate reporting readability and regulatory review risk." Baltic Journal of Management 13, no. 4 (October 1, 2018): 488–507. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/bjm-11-2017-0357.

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Purpose The regulatory review process imposes significant costs on companies. Therefore, managers try to find ways to avoid the regulatory review risk. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether corporate reporting readability reduces the regulatory review risk. Design/methodology/approach This study measures the corporate reporting readability using the Fog Index. It measures the regulatory review risk using the probability of receiving a comment letter from the Securities and Exchange Organization of Iran. Findings The findings reveal that corporate reporting readability reduces the regulatory review risk, after controlling for the factors that affect the regulatory review risk. Originality/value The current paper identifies an easy strategy for managers to mitigate one of the important risks faced by companies. Thus, the results will be of interest to managers, audit committees, and stakeholders involved in the regulatory review process.

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Patalay, Praveetha, Daniel Hayes, and Miranda Wolpert. "Assessing the readability of the self-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire." BJPsych Open 4, no. 2 (February 22, 2018): 55–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2017.13.

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The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is one of the most widely used measures in child and adolescent mental health in clinical practice, community-based screening and research. Assessing the readability of such questionnaires is important as young people may not comprehend items above their reading ability when self-reporting. Analyses of readability in the present study indicate that the self-report SDQ might not be suitable for young people with a reading age below 13–14 years and highlight differences in readability between subscales. The findings suggest a need for caution in using the SDQ as a self-report measure for children below the age of 13, and highlight considerations of readability in measure development, selection and interpretation.Declaration of interestNone.

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Beinborn, Lisa, Torsten Zesch, and Iryna Gurevych. "Readability for foreign language learning." Recent Advances in Automatic Readability Assessment and Text Simplification 165, no. 2 (December 31, 2014): 136–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/itl.165.2.02bei.

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In this paper, we analyse the differences between L1 acquisition and L2 learning and identify four main aspects: input quality and quantity, mapping processes, cross-lingual influence, and reading experience. As a consequence of these differences, we conclude that L1 readability measures cannot be directly mapped to L2 readability. We propose to calculate L2 readability for various dimensions and for smaller units. It is particularly important to account for the cross-lingual influence from the learner’s L1 and other previously acquired languages and for the learner’s higher experience in reading. In our analysis, we focus on lexical readability as it has been found to be the most influential dimension for L2 reading comprehension. We discuss the features frequency, lexical variation, concreteness, polysemy, and context specificity and analyse their impact on L2 readability. As a new feature specific to L2 readability, we propose the cognateness of words with words in languages the learner already knows. A pilot study confirms our assumption that learners can deduce the meaning of new words by their cognateness to other languages.

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Lee, Saangyoung E., Zainab Farzal, Charles S. Ebert, and Adam M. Zanation. "Readability of Patient‐Reported Outcome Measures for Head and Neck Oncology." Laryngoscope 130, no. 12 (February 20, 2020): 2839–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/lary.28555.

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Edwards, Michael Todd. "Who Was the Real William Shakespeare?" Mathematics Teacher 102, no. 8 (April 2009): 580–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.5951/mt.102.8.0580.

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Edwards, Michael Todd. "Who Was the Real William Shakespeare?" Mathematics Teacher 102, no. 8 (April 2009): 580–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.5951/mt.102.8.0580.

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Sumeeth, M., R. I. Singh, and J. Miller. "Are Online Privacy Policies Readable?" International Journal of Information Security and Privacy 4, no. 1 (January 2010): 93–116. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/jisp.2010010105.

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This paper examines the question of are on-line privacy policies understandable to the users of the Internet? This examination is undertaken by collecting privacy policies from the most popular sites on the Internet, and analyzing their readability using a number of readability measures. The study finds that the results are consistent regardless of the readability measure utilized. The authors also compare their findings with the results from previous studies. The authors conclude that, on average, privacy policies are becoming more readable. However, these policies are still beyond the capability of a large section of Internet users, and roughly 20% of the policies require an educational level approaching a post-graduate degree to support comprehension.

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Hamby, Tyler, and William Ickes. "Do the Readability and Average Item Length of Personality Scales Affect Their Reliability?" Journal of Individual Differences 36, no. 1 (February 1, 2015): 54–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000154.

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Using meta-analytic data, we investigated three attributes of personality scales – their readability, the average number of words per item, and whether adjectives or statements were used – to determine the effects that these qualities have on scale reliability (Cronbach’s α). From a large pool of studies examined in three prior meta-analyses, we extracted the relevant data for seven personality traits measured in 167 independent samples (N = 55,593), and obtained measures of the traits’ readability, the average number of words per item, and whether adjectives or statements were used as the item format. We found strong and consistent evidence that using fewer words per item produced higher scale reliabilities, and there was also evidence in favor of using adjectives, as opposed to statements, as the item format when measuring broad traits. In contrast, the results for readability were inconsistent and mostly nonsignificant. These results have practical implications for scale developers as well as researchers, and they raise the possibility that shorter and more “de-contextualized” items do a better job of assessing personality traits.

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Papadakos, Janet K., Rebecca C. Charow, Christine J. Papadakos, Lesley J. Moody, and Meredith E. Giuliani. "Evaluating cancer patient–reported outcome measures: Readability and implications for clinical use." Cancer 125, no. 8 (January 8, 2019): 1350–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cncr.31928.

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Basch, Corey H., Jan Mohlman, Grace C. Hillyer, and Philip Garcia. "Public Health Communication in Time of Crisis: Readability of On-Line COVID-19 Information." Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness 14, no. 5 (May 11, 2020): 635–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.151.

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ABSTRACTObjective:The purpose of this study was to assess the readability of information on the Internet posted about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to determine how closely these materials are written to the recommended reading levels.Methods:Using the search term “coronavirus,” information posted on the first 100 English language websites was identified. Using an online readability calculator, multiple readability tests were conducted to ensure a comprehensive representation would result.Results:The mean readability scores ranged between grade levels 6.2 and 17.8 (graduate school level). Four of the 5 measures (GFI, CLI, SMOG, FRE) found that readability exceeded the 10th grade reading level indicating that the text of these websites would be difficult for the average American to read. The mean reading level for nearly all noncommercial and commercial websites was at or above the 10th grade reading level.Conclusions:Messages about COVID-19 must be readable at an “easy” level, and must contain clear guidelines for behavior. The degree to which individuals seek information in response to risk messages is positively related to the expectation that the information will resolve uncertainty. However, if the information is too complex to interpret and it fails to lead to disambiguation, this can contribute to feelings of panic.

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Mujiyanto, Yan. "The Comprehensibility of Readable English Texts and Their Back-Translations." International Journal of English Linguistics 6, no. 2 (March 29, 2016): 21. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v6n2p21.

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<p>This paper presents the results of a study initiated by the potential employment of readability measures to assess the equivalence of reading ease and grade level indices between source texts and their translations as well as back-renderings. It was questionable whether there was a causal relation between the indices and their comprehensibility levels, because whereas the former concentrated merely on quantities of linguistic elements and their formal relations, the latter considered such factors as particular characteristics of each element, meaning coverage, and readers’ socio-psychological background. This study aimed to disclose the relation between the readability measures and the comprehensibility levels of source texts and their translations, as well as back-renderings. A number of English texts, along with their translations in Indonesian, were deliberately chosen for that purpose. The translations were then back-rendered to the source language utilizing <em>Google Translate</em>. Comparison between the source texts and their translations as well as back-renderings was capable of showing their similarities in the readability levels and average number of characters, words, sentences, and words per sentence in the texts. And asking prospective readers about their perception concerning their understanding of such texts was capable of disclosing the causal relation between the readability and the comprehensibility levels of the texts.</p>

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Miller, Geralyn, Steven A. Hanke, and Hui Di. "Pawnshops Regulatory Environment: A Readability Analysis." JABM JOURNAL of ACCOUNTING - BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT 1, no. 25 (August 14, 2018): 50. http://dx.doi.org/10.31966/jabminternational.v1i25.329.

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The pawn industry in the United States grew substantially in recent years; however, there is limited research on the regulatory environment for these predominately small businesses. Our study focuses on the readability of state regulations for pawnshops. We select credit unions as a comparison group since they also service non-bank customers. Our analysis reveals that the majority of states’ pawnbroker regulations are at the college reading level while the regulations for credit unions are at the college graduate reading level. There are also geographical differences in the readability of pawnshop regulations with the regulations in the northeast region being easier to read than in the west region. However, there is no evidence that the regulations readability level corresponds to the number of pawnbrokers in a state or to more broad-based measures of state-level business friendliness.

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Barth, Lukas, Andreas Gemsa, Benjamin Niedermann, and Martin Nöllenburg. "On the readability of leaders in boundary labeling." Information Visualization 18, no. 1 (September 24, 2018): 110–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1473871618799500.

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External labeling deals with annotating features in images with labels that are placed outside of the image and are connected by curves (so-called leaders) to the corresponding features. While external labeling has been extensively investigated from a perspective of automatization, the research on its readability has been neglected. In this article, we present the first formal user study on the readability of leader types in boundary labeling, a special variant of external labeling that considers rectangular image contours. We consider the four most studied leader types (straight, L-shaped, diagonal, and S-shaped) with respect to their performance, that is, whether and how fast a viewer can assign a feature to its label and vice versa. We give a detailed analysis of the results regarding the readability of the four models and discuss their aesthetic qualities based on the users’ preference judgments and interviews. As a consequence of our experiment, we can generally recommend L-shaped leaders as the best compromise between measured task performance and subjective preference ratings, while straight and diagonal leaders received mixed ratings in the two measures. S-shaped leaders are generally not recommended from a practical point of view.

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Marino Fages, Diego. "Write better, publish better." Scientometrics 122, no. 3 (January 3, 2020): 1671–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11192-019-03332-4.

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AbstractThere is evidence that having more readable abstracts and introductions help authors get cited. I show that, in economics, there is also an effect of readability on the probability of publishing in a Top 5 journal (and in a higher-ranked journal in general). I compute readability measures for a set of working papers and examine the journals in which they get published. My results suggest that previous estimates of the effect on citations are downward biased, as higher-ranked journals are more widely read and cited.

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Wu, Danny TY, David A. Hanauer, Qiaozhu Mei, Patricia M. Clark, Lawrence C. An, Joshua Proulx, Qing T. Zeng, VG Vinod Vydiswaran, Kevyn Collins-Thompson, and Kai Zheng. "Assessing the readability of ClinicalTrials.gov." Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association 23, no. 2 (August 11, 2015): 269–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocv062.

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Abstract Objective ClinicalTrials.gov serves critical functions of disseminating trial information to the public and helping the trials recruit participants. This study assessed the readability of trial descriptions at ClinicalTrials.gov using multiple quantitative measures. Materials and Methods The analysis included all 165 988 trials registered at ClinicalTrials.gov as of April 30, 2014. To obtain benchmarks, the authors also analyzed 2 other medical corpora: (1) all 955 Health Topics articles from MedlinePlus and (2) a random sample of 100 000 clinician notes retrieved from an electronic health records system intended for conveying internal communication among medical professionals. The authors characterized each of the corpora using 4 surface metrics, and then applied 5 different scoring algorithms to assess their readability. The authors hypothesized that clinician notes would be most difficult to read, followed by trial descriptions and MedlinePlus Health Topics articles. Results Trial descriptions have the longest average sentence length (26.1 words) across all corpora; 65% of their words used are not covered by a basic medical English dictionary. In comparison, average sentence length of MedlinePlus Health Topics articles is 61% shorter, vocabulary size is 95% smaller, and dictionary coverage is 46% higher. All 5 scoring algorithms consistently rated CliniclTrials.gov trial descriptions the most difficult corpus to read, even harder than clinician notes. On average, it requires 18 years of education to properly understand these trial descriptions according to the results generated by the readability assessment algorithms. Discussion and Conclusion Trial descriptions at CliniclTrials.gov are extremely difficult to read. Significant work is warranted to improve their readability in order to achieve CliniclTrials.gov’s goal of facilitating information dissemination and subject recruitment.

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Adhariani, Desi, and Elda du Toit. "Readability of sustainability reports: evidence from Indonesia." Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies 10, no. 4 (September 7, 2020): 621–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jaee-10-2019-0194.

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PurposeThis study aimed at investigating the readability of sustainability reports in Indonesia. The Indonesian government, through the Financial Services Authority of Indonesia (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan [OJK]), has issued regulation POJK 51/2017 concerning the implementation of sustainable finance, which requires public companies to prepare sustainability reports—either stand-alone reports or parts of annual reports. Until 2017, only 30% of the top public companies in terms of market capitalisation issued the required report. Companies' decisions to provide the report stem from the greater visibility and access to resources that flow from additional narratives. However, the usefulness of such a report can be questioned.Design/methodology/approachWe used several linguistic techniques (Flesch Reading Ease [FRE], Flesch–Kincaid, and Gunning Fog measures) to evaluate the readability of sustainability reports. The analysis was performed using a software application called “Readability Studio 2015.”FindingsWe found the reports to have a low level of readability. This means that the information provided in the disclosures are very difficult to decipher and understand by the targeted users. Considering the similar levels of report readability in companies across industries, we observe a pattern of isomorphism in the way companies have implemented the same format and language construct in disclosing their sustainability information. They might apply the myth that complex language attracts investors or impresses others.Research limitations/implicationsThe techniques to measure readability that we use might not capture the whole dimensions of readability and understandability, especially in the non-English language.Practical implicationsThe results from this study can be used as evaluation tools for companies and regulators in preparing more intelligible and readable sustainability reports, as mandated by POJK 51/2017.Social implicationsSustainability reports act as a medium of accountability for a company's sustainable production and operations. Their usefulness for investors and other users often depends on the readability of the information.Originality/valueThe readability of sustainability reports in the context of Indonesia as an emerging market has not been comprehensively investigated in previous research. This study is among the first of its kind to support the quality enhancement of the reports.

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Xu, Hongkang, Trung H. Pham, and Mai Dao. "Annual report readability and trade credit." Review of Accounting and Finance 19, no. 3 (July 17, 2020): 363–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/raf-10-2019-0221.

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Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of the readability of annual reports on firms’ ability to obtain trade credit from suppliers. Particularly, the authors conjecture that annual report readability helps firms obtain more trade credit from suppliers. Design/methodology/approach The authors use the Gunning Fog Index as the primary measure of annual report readability and the ratio of accounts payable to the book value of total assets as the measure of trade credit. Findings Results from the study of 4,754 firms during the 2004–2016 period indicate that suppliers extend more trade credit to firms with more readable financial reports. The authors’ results are robust to alternative measures of trade credit and annual report readability. The authors’ results remain robust when we control for firm fixed effects and potential endogeneity problems using the instrumental variable approach. A further test shows that the level of trade credit is higher for firms in business service industries, and that this relation is weakened when firms disclose less readable 10-K filings. Originality/value The authors’ findings provide new insight into the role of financial report readability in firms’ ability to obtain trade financing from suppliers. The authors’ results are also in line with the SEC’s encouragement that firms use plain English and easy language in financial reporting.

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Walfish, Steven, and Keely M. Watkins. "Readability Level of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Notices of Privacy Practices Utilized by Academic Medical Centers." Evaluation & the Health Professions 28, no. 4 (December 2005): 479–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0163278705281080.

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Recently enacted Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act legislation requires health care professionals to provide patients with a “Notice of Privacy Practices” (NPP) document as part of their informed consent process to participate in assessment and treatment. We were interested in the readability of these forms. We attempted to find a NPP from an academic medical center in each state plus the District of Columbia where documents were placed on the institution's Web site. Documents were obtained from 40 jurisdictions and were then analyzed utilizing two measures of readability. The majority (65%) of these documents were written beyond the 12thgrade reading level, and almost the entire sample (90%) fell in the difficult range of reading ease. Academic medical centers have an ethical obligation to improve the readability of these documents and should do so to improve clinical practice and reduce liability.

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Hillyer, Grace Clarke, Melissa Beauchemin, Philip Garcia, Moshe Kelsen, Frances L. Brogan, Gary K. Schwartz, and Corey H. Basch. "Readability of Cancer Clinical Trials Websites." Cancer Control 27, no. 1 (January 1, 2020): 107327481990112. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1073274819901125.

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Clinical trials are critically important for the development of new cancer treatments. According to recent estimates, however, clinical trial enrollment is only about 8%. Lack of patient understanding or awareness of clinical trials is one reason for the low rate of participation. The purpose of this observational study was to evaluate the readability of cancer clinical trial websites designed to educate the general public and patients about clinical trials. Nearly 90% of Americans use Google to search for health-related information. We conducted a Google Chrome Incognito search in 2018 using the keywords “cancer clinical trial” and “cancer clinical trials.” Content of the 100 cancer clinical trial websites was analyzed using an online readability panel consisting of Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Flesch Reading Ease, Gunning-Fog Index, Coleman-Liau Index, and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook scales. Reading level difficulty was assessed and compared between commercial versus non-commercial URL extensions. Content readability was found to be “difficult” (10.7 grade level). No significant difference in readability, overall, and between commercial and non-commercial URL extensions was found using 4/5 measures of readability; 90.9% of commercial versus 49.4% of non-commercial websites were written at a >10th grade ( P = .013) using Gunning-Fog Index. Written cancer clinical trials content on the Internet is written at a reading level beyond the literacy capabilities of the average American reader. Improving readability to accommodate readers with basic literacy skills will provide an opportunity for greater comprehension that could potentially result in higher rates of clinical trial enrollment.

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Oyzon, Voltaire Q., Juven B. Corrales, and Wilfredo M. Estardo, Jr. "Validation Study of Waray Text Readability Instrument." International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE) 4, no. 2 (June 1, 2015): 45. http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v4i2.4491.

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In 2012 the Leyte Normal University developed a computer software—modelled after the Spache Readability Formula (1953) made for English—made to help rank texts that can is used by teachers or research groups on selecting appropriate reading materials to support the DepEd’s MTB-MLE program in Region VIII, in the Philippines. However, “several experiments have already established that existing readability measures in English cannot directly be used to compute readability of other languages.” To validate the Waray Text Readability Instrument (WTRI) formula, 15 stories were rated by 24 randomly selected teachers from two elementary schools in Tacloban City. The WTRI software uses two factors in determining readability, namely: (a) sentence length and (b) frequency of commonly occurring words. The teachers’ task is to read the given text and rate the grade level of each text by considering these three factors: (1) frequency of commonly used words; (2) sentence length; and, (3) total number of words. The data gathered was compared with the WTRI’s ratings of the same texts. Statistical testing was done to determine if there is a significant difference between the teachers’ rating of the texts and the WTRI’s ratings. As a result, there was no significant difference between the software’s grade level ratings and that of the teachers’. It implied that the WTRI’s calculation is valid.

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Richards, Glenn, and Chris van Staden. "The readability impact of international financial reporting standards." Pacific Accounting Review 27, no. 3 (August 3, 2015): 282–303. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/par-08-2013-0086.

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Purpose – This paper aims to compare the readability of narrative annual report disclosure pre- and post-International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption using a computational linguistics programme to determine if annual report disclosures have become more difficult or easier to read following the adoption of IFRS. Design/methodology/approach – This paper empirically measures narrative annual report disclosure readability pre- and post-IFRS adoption using a computational linguistics programme. In this analysis, the authors control for variables that have been identified as relevant to the understanding of financial disclosures, such as size, business volatility, financial leverage and industry. Findings – Significant relationships have been identified between IFRS adoption and reduced readability indicators using readability formulas, and also using other factors such as increased length of annual report disclosures and increased use of tables. Findings suggest that the adoption of IFRS has added complexity and resulted in reduced readability of annual report disclosures. Practical implications – Academic backing to claims of IFRS’s negative implications for financial statements and their ultimate users should encourage action on the part of standard setters and report preparers to address the negative impacts of IFRS adoption. Originality/value – This paper is the first to provide evidence that New Zealand equivalents to IFRS adoption have resulted in not only longer disclosures but also more complicated disclosures.

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Peter, Samuel C., James P. Whelan, Rory A. Pfund, and Andrew W. Meyers. "A text comprehension approach to questionnaire readability: An example using gambling disorder measures." Psychological Assessment 30, no. 12 (December 2018): 1567–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pas0000610.

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Journal articles on the topic 'Readability measures'

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