[IPAC-List] Readability measures

[Patrick McCoy]

The readability measures I have encountered take into account things
like sentence length, number of sentences in a paragraph, word length
and the like.  Flesh, Flesch-Kincaid, and Fog come to mind, though there
are other measures too.
 
As Mike mentions, these approaches probably don't get at everything
that is relevant to readability.  Sentences and paragraphs can be short
but still very difficult to read if there is disorganization, the usage
is unconventional, or if the logic is off.
 
I suspect that when a high level pops out, the text is generally
difficult to read.  A low score, on the other hand, may signify easy
reading, unless of course the writing lacks organization, logic, etc. 
 
As usual metrics should not be interpreted blindly.
 
Pat McCoy
Ottawa, Canada
 



>>> "Michael McDaniel (WSF)" <McDaniel at WorkSkillsFirst.com> 2010/10/25

10:29 AM >>>
My understanding (which may be incorrect) of the readability formulas
is
that they are diagnostic of reading comprehensibility but are not
measures
of the causes of reading comprehensibility. Considered 'passive
activity' in
the IRS instructions. It is a complex set of text. Making the
sentences
shorter and re-writing with words of fewer syllables, does not make the
text
easier to understand.

Mike

Michael A. McDaniel
Sent from Droid phone
On Oct 24, 2010 9:48 PM, "Joel Wiesen"
<jwiesen at appliedpersonnelresearch.com>
wrote:
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