Procedural and declarative information in software manuals by Nicole Ummelen

Procedural and declarative information in software manuals by Nicole Ummelen

People who use software manuals want to get something done. Procedural information directly supports this goal, but the use of declarative information in manuals has often been under discussion. Current research gives rise to the expectation that manual users tend to skip declarative information most of the time. Also, no effects of declarative information in software manuals have yet been found. In this study, information use and information effects in software manuals are investigated in three experiments, thereby taking different user types, different task types and different information arrangements into account. A new technique was applied: the click&read method. This technique enables the software user to use the manual and carry out software tasks at the same time while information selection and times are recorded automatically in logfiles. For the first time, quantitative data are presented about the amounts of procedural and declarative information that were selected and the times that were spent using these information types. Although procedural information is selected more often and used longer, declarative information appears to be a substantial part of the information selection. Moreover, the results show that using declarative information positively affects performance on future tasks, performance on reasoning tasks and factual knowledge.

reports a well-designed and painstakingly thorough set of three empirical studies.. Creative and thought-provoking research ... Ummelen's approach would extend naturally to the study of online help, tutorials, and documentation as well; importantly, her research reinforces the inevitable interaction between users, their situational goals, and the tasks we are aiming to support. in: Technical Communication Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 3, Summer 1999 Ummelen's presentation works for both researchers and practitioners. ...an important contribution to the research base that underlies our practice in organizing and writing software manuals. Anyone interested in research and in issues that Ummelen addresses will want to get a copy of this book. in: Technical Communication, Vol. 45, No. 3, August 1998

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9789042001282
ISBN 10	9042001283
Title	Procedural and declarative information in software manuals
Author	Nicole Ummelen
Series	Utrecht Studies In Language And Communication
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Brill
Year published	1997-01-01
Number of pages	230
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable