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	Non disponible
ISBN 13	9789042001282
ISBN 10	9042001283
Titre	Procedural and declarative information in software manuals
Auteur	Nicole Ummelen
Série	Utrecht Studies In Language And Communication
État	Non disponible
Type de reliure	Paperback
Éditeur	Brill
Année de publication	1997-01-01
Nombre de pages	230
Note de couverture	La photo du livre est présentée à titre d'illustration uniquement. La reliure, la couverture ou l'édition réelle peuvent varier.
Note	Non disponible