Low Readability Research Articles

Less is more? Evidence for a curvilinear relationship between readability and screening evaluations across pitch competition and crowdfunding contexts

We explore how the readability of an investment document influences new venture screening evaluations. Based on two field studies across pitch competition and crowdfunding contexts, we find that documents of high and low readability receive more favorable screening evaluations compared with those of medium readability. Our post-hoc experiment illustrates how the effect of readability is mediated by entrepreneurial capability and idea complexity. It appears that highly readable documents are generally valued because they make it easy for investors to process information, whereas less readable documents may be preferred because investors perceive the entrepreneurs to possess greater capability.

Газетный фонд Национального архива Республики Тыва

В статье впервые анализируется газетный фонд Национального архива (до 07.04.2020 г. — Государственного архива) Республики Тыва: состав, характеристики, сохранность. Хранящиеся в нем 627 газетных комплектов — с 1929 по 2013 гг. — это местные газеты, а также бурятские, монгольские (выписывались из Бурятии и Монголии). Республиканские газеты разделены на группы: газеты Тувинской Народной Республики, советской Тувы и современной Тувы.Больше внимания уделено газетам ТНР, это наиболее ценные 43 комплекта-подшивок. Это комплекты «Красного пахаря», «Тувинской правды», «Şьn» («Правда»), «Tьʙa arattьꞑ şьnь» («Правда тувинского арата»), «Xostuƣ arat» («Свободный арат») и другие периодические издания, выходившие на территории республики с 1924 по 1944 гг. Представлены также сведения о выпускающих органах, языке издания и за какие годы есть подшивки в архиве. Но сам подшивки имеют пробелы. Проанализированы содержания газет периода ТНР. Даны основные тематизмы, приведены примеры, указаны даты.Фиксируется рост ежегодной выдачи газетных подшивок из архивохранилища для работы в читальном зале архива. Рассматривается статистика запросов и работы читателей.Среди проблем сохранности: случаи ухудшения физического состояния газет, читаемости текстов, появление механических повреждений. Сотрудники формируют комплекты-подшивки и переплетают их, хранят надлежащим образом. Разрабатывается программа по оцифровке газет. Составляется каталог газетного фонда.

Evaluation of Hip Preservation-related Patient Education Materials From Leading Orthopaedic Academic Centers in the United States and Description of a Novel Video Assessment Tool.

Introduction:The readability, reliability, and quality of online hip preservation–related patient education materials from the top 20 orthopaedic academic centers in the United States were evaluated.Methods:The patient educational materials were evaluated with the following assessment tools: Flesch-Kincaid (FK) readability test, Flesch Reading Ease formula, LIDA instrument, and DISCERN tool. Videos were assessed using the Patient Educational Video Assessment Tool (PEVAT), an author-developed scoring system.Results:A total of 121 educational items were reviewed. Median (interquartile range) or mean ± SD of the FK level, Flesch Reading Ease, LIDA, and DISCERN scores were 11.00 (3.00), 47.32 ± 12.14, 41.00 (6.00), and 64.00 (7.00), respectively. Higher ranking was correlated with higher FK (ρ = −0.21, P value = 0.034), higher DISCERN score (ρ = −0.39, P value < 0.005), and a lower PEVAT score (r = 0.61, P value = 0.034). The PEVAT score found that 83% of videos were classified as high quality.Discussion:An analysis of the hip preservation patient education text articles found low readability. Overall, high ranking was associated with poorer readability, higher quality text content, and lower quality video content. Video content was found to be predominantly of high quality. Improving the educational accessibility and effect of hip preservation–related topics may result in improved treatment outcomes.

Readability Analysis of Online Headache and Migraine Information.

Although migraine is recognized as one of the most common and disabling diseases in the world, it is nonetheless still underestimated, underdiagnosed, and undertreated. The fact that migraine patients often tend to access the Web to search for headache-related information hinderspatient-doctor relationships and one should also bear in mind that, unfortunately, text readability and medical literacyin the overall population may be the reason why patients' understanding of health information is compromised. We aimed to assess the readability of the home page of the top 10 patient - oriented migraine-related websites and the educational level required to be in a position to broach them. On April 15, 2018, we conducted a descriptive study on the international version of Google by entering the words "headache" and "migraine." We then analyzed the overall level of readability of texts of the home pages of the top 10 patient-oriented websites, by means of the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook Readability Calculator. Entering "headache" on the home pages of the top 10 patient-oriented websites on Google we found that to understand these particular websites with ease, an average grade level of 12.4 (±1.5 standard deviation, SD) and an average 13.3 years of formal education (±1.7 SD) were required. Similarly, typing "migraine" on Google we found an average grade level of 10.8 (±1.2 SD) and an average of 12.5 years of formal education (±1.9 SD) were required. The most frequently viewed websites all failed to meet the USA National Institutes of Health guidelines, which recommend a range between 6th and 7th grade level readability. The present study shows the low readability level resulting from the top 10 patient-oriented headache/migraine websites and the consequent barrier this creates in the dissemination of headache/migraine-related medical information. Although the actual physicians, both primary care physicians and headache specialists are the principal source of understandable headache-related information, only a minority of people consult these professionals. Given the foregoing, the majority of migraine patients is, therefore, unable to obtain adequate comprehensible health information on the Web. Furthermore, the existing gap between migraine-related website content readability and the unmet need for migraine patients to obtain pertinent and correct information might well contribute to the worldwide neglect of migraine as a major public health problem. Physician experts in headache and migraine should actively cooperate in planning informative material to establish what information patients need to know, how they should use it, and how readable that material actually is. Readability ought to be established before the final website publication. Plain language ought to be used and written messages should be supplemented with visual content such as simple drawings. We recommend the setting up of a new dynamic, modern, plain-talking, and efficient approach in communication aimed at catching the public's attention with its readability and thus satisfying a migraine and headache web scenario.

It's OK to pay well, if you write well: The effects of remuneration disclosure readability

AbstractWe examine whether, and how, shareholders’ votes in the Say‐on‐Pay (SOP) are affected by the readability of the Compensation Discussion and Analysis (CD&amp;A). Despite the SEC's Plain English requirement, qualitative disclosures on executive remuneration are generally long and complex. Extant evidence on whether low readability results in higher or lower shareholder dissent in the SOP, however, is ambiguous. We resolve this debate by demonstrating that the effects of readability on SOP voting are heterogeneous; while obfuscation may reduce dissent when CEO compensation is close to “normal” levels, diminished readability results in increased scepticism when pay levels are clearly excessive. The moderating role of readability is most pronounced for firms with less sophisticated shareholders, consistent with readability acting as a heuristic cue. Our results are robust to propensity score matching, and are less pronounced (1) when shareholders have less time to review the CD&amp;A, and (2) when shareholders are distracted by competing AGMs, suggesting they are driven by readability, directly. Overall, our results highlight that greater use of Plain English in remuneration disclosures can have a substantial persuasive impact on shareholders.

Internal Control over Financial Reporting and Corporate Environmental Performance

We investigate the environmental implications of firms’ internal control over financial reporting using data on the toxic chemical waste generated by U.S. firms to measure corporate environmental performance (CEP). We find that CEP is significantly poorer among firms with internal control weaknesses. Furthermore, we document that CEP in such firms significantly improves following the remediation of internal control deficiencies. Additional analysis shows that the adverse environmental effect of internal control weakness is more pronounced for firms with lower readability and comparability in financial reporting, weaker environmental regulatory oversight, or poorer external governance mechanisms. Firms with internal control deficiencies also have higher costs of environmental regulatory enforcement caused by their non-compliance with regulation. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of effective internal control as a key determinant of CEP and illustrate the environmental effect of accounting.

Problems of youth media of Kazakhstan

The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of the development of domestic youth publica- tions. The relevance of the topic is determined by their lack of study and special importance for ensuring a stable future of the country, the implementation of the intellectual and creative potential of the younger generation. The purpose of the work is to study the problems of youth mass media in Kazakhstan. The work is aimed at studying the difficult issues of creating Newspapers and magazines for teenagers and young people, as well as their reception, because the needs of the target audience have changed signifi- cantly in recent years. The scientific and practical significance of the work is due to the need to model the prospects for the development of youth publications, improve journalistic skills and media literacy of the target audience. The research methods were monitoring the functioning of youth mass media, analysis of their con- tent, design, and statistical method (sociological survey). The methodological basis of the research was the articles of foreign and domestic scientists on the topic. The study material has led to the following results: most popular among young people have zines, the demand for paper publications and television products, low interest in entertainment content on the themes of “star” of life, gender relations, psychology and education, low readability materials about poli- tics. Analysis of this situation reveals the following reasons: lack of competition in the market, insufficient creative approach to design, low level of media literacy of the audience. The study allowed us to systematize the problems of Kazakhstan’s journalism for young people: lack of funding, lack of young talented journalists, low circulation, thematic limitations, competition with foreign publications, high prices, too large advertising blocks, growth of entertainment content, decrease in reader interest. The results of the work are of practical importance for developing a strategy to improve the situation in modern youth media to ensure their participation in shaping the worldview of young people.

Influence of high versus low readability level of written health information on self-efficacy: A randomized controlled study of the processing fluency effect.

We investigated the relationship of processing fluency of written information about exercise to participants’ perceived interest, safety, self-efficacy, outcome expectation, and behavioral intention regarding the exercise. We randomly assigned 400 men and women aged 40–69 years to control or intervention conditions. Perceived self-efficacy of performing the exercise in the intervention group (i.e. easy to read) was significantly higher than that in the control group (i.e. difficult to read) (p = 0.04). Easy-to-read written health information may be important not only for making written health information comprehensible but also for increasing readers’ self-efficacy for adopting health-related behaviors.

Quality and scientific accuracy of patient-oriented information on the internet on minimally invasive surgery for colorectal cancer

ObjectivesAppropriate information on minimally invasive surgery for colorectal cancer would help the patients and their caretakers to understand the treatment process. We aimed to assess the readability, quality and scientific content of patient-oriented information on minimally invasive surgery for colorectal cancer on the internet. MethodsInternet search on “minimally invasive surgery for colorectal cancer”, “laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer” and “robotic surgery for colorectal cancer” was performed on search engines (Google, Yahoo! and Bing). Quality and readability were assessed by DISCERN instrument and validated Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES) respectively. ResultsFifty-five websites were analysed. The median DISCERN score was 41(range:24–66) and the median FRES score was 33.9(range:10.4–59.8) indicating low readability. Twenty-seven sites (49.1%) were affiliated with hospitals or clinics. Benefits of surgery and the surgical procedure were mentioned in 76.4% and 81.8% respectively. However, pre-op preparation, surgical complications, and quality of life were not mentioned in 49(82.1%), 42(76.4%) and 44(80%) sites respectively. Overall on DISCERN, 7(12.73%) were identified as “Excellent”, 25(45.45%) as “Good” or “Moderate” and 23(41.82%) as “Poor”. ConclusionAnalysis of the quality and scientific content of patient information on MIS for CRC revealed a considerable deficiency in the information provided and sub-standard readability. Several aspects such as pre-op preparation, surgical complications and post-operative quality of life which are of concern to the patient were not discussed in a considerable proportion of articles. As the internet is expanding as a readily available source of information, steps should be taken to ensure the highest quality information.

Online Search Behavior for Cancer Immunotherapy Resources and Readability Analysis: An Opportunity to Aid in Medical Decision-making.

Cancer patients are faced with increasing options for cancer care, especially with the introduction of cancer immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Though many patients turn to online resources to supplement their decision-making, it is unknown whether online resources in cancer immunotherapy with ICIs are written at an appropriate level of readability according to national medical organizations. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of internet search behavior for cancer immunotherapy by ICIs and clinical trial availability per ClinicalTrials.gov in the United States (US) from 2004 - 2018 with subsequent quantitation of readability by four readability formulas of top 50 online resources. Internet search behavior for “cancer immunotherapy” has steadily increased since 2013 and coincides with the year of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for individual ICIs. Furthermore, internet search behavior was significantly correlated with clinical trial availability in the US (R = 0.97, p < 0.0001). None of the top 50 resources available to patients were found to be within the recommended level of sixth-grade readability or less with only one (2%) written at the middle school level, 21 (42%) at the high school level, 23 (46%) at the university level, and five (8%) at a graduate level. Population-level internet search patterns may reflect patient behavior in seeking relevant online health information and may be influenced by new options for cancer therapy, including via clinical trials. However, low readability of available online resources may impede patient comprehension and negatively affect medical decision-making.

Investigating Effects of Typographic Variables on Webpage Reading Through Eye Movements

Webpage reading is ubiquitous in daily life. As Web technologies allow for a large variety of layouts and visual styles, the many formatting options may lead to poor design choices, including low readability. This research capitalizes on the existing readability guidelines for webpage design to outline several visuo-typographic variables and explore their effect on eye movements during webpage reading. Participants included children and adults, and for both groups typical readers and readers with dyslexia were considered. Actual webpages, rather than artificial ones, served as stimuli. This allowed to test multiple typographic variables in combination and in their typical ranges rather than in possibly unrealistic configurations. Several typographic variables displayed a significant effect on eye movements and reading performance. The effect was mostly homogeneous across the four groups, with a few exceptions. Beside supporting the notion that a few empirically-driven adjustments to the texts’ visual appearance can facilitate reading across different populations, the results also highlight the challenge of making digital texts accessible to readers with dyslexia. Theoretically, the results highlight the importance of low-level visual factors, corroborating the emphasis of recent psychological models on visual attention and crowding in reading.

Assessment of costs and insurance policies for referral treatment of equine colic

Colic is the most common emergency problem in horses. The aims of this study were to survey costs of different referral treatments and to review insurance policies relevant to horses...

Bipartite graphs of small readability

We study a parameter of bipartite graphs called readability, introduced by Chikhi et al. (Discrete Applied Mathematics, 2016) and motivated by applications of overlap graphs in bioinformatics. The behavior of the parameter is poorly understood. The complexity of computing it is open and it is not known whether the decision version of the problem is in NP. The only known upper bound on the readability of a bipartite graph (following from a work of Braga and Meidanis, LATIN 2002) is exponential in the maximum degree of the graph.Graphs that arise in bioinformatics applications have low readability. In this paper, we focus on graph families with readability o(n), where n is the number of vertices. We show that the readability of n-vertex bipartite chain graphs is between Ω(log⁡n) and O(n). We give an efficiently testable characterization of bipartite graphs of readability at most 2 and completely determine the readability of grids, showing in particular that their readability never exceeds 3. As a consequence, we obtain a polynomial time algorithm to determine the readability of induced subgraphs of grids. One of the highlights of our techniques is the appearance of Euler's totient function in the analysis of the readability of bipartite chain graphs. We also develop a new technique for proving lower bounds on readability, which is applicable to dense graphs with a large number of distinct degrees.

Readability of integrated reports: an exploratory global study

PurposeA 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/approachIn 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.FindingsThe 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/implicationsThe 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 implicationsThe 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/valueThe study represents the first large-scale analysis of the readability and accessibility of global integrated reports.

The Quality and Readability of English Wikipedia Anatomy Articles.

Forty anatomy articles were sampled from English Wikipedia and assessed quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitatively, each article's edit history was analyzed by Wikipedia X-tools, references and media were counted manually, and two readability indices were used to evaluate article readability. This analysis revealed that each article was updated 8.3 ± 6.8 times per month, and referenced with 33.5 ± 24.3 sources, such as journal articles and textbooks. Each article contained on average 14.0 ± 7.6 media items. The readability indices including: (1) Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Readability Test and (2) Flesch Reading Ease Readability Formula demonstrated that the articles had low readability and were more appropriate for college students and above. Qualitatively, the sampled articles were evaluated by experts using a modified DISCERN survey. According to the modified DISCERN, 13 articles (32.5%), 24 articles (60%), 3 articles (7.5%), were rated as "good," "moderate," and "poor," respectively. There were positive correlations between the DISCERN score and the number of edits (r = 0.537), number of editors (r = 0.560), and article length (r = 0.536). Strengths reported by the panel included completeness and coverage in 11 articles (27.5%), anatomical details in 10 articles (25%), and clinical details in 5 articles (12.5%). The panel also noted areas which could be improved, such as providing missing information in 28 articles (70%), inaccuracies in 10 articles (25%), and lack or poor use of images in 17 articles (42.5%). In conclusion, this study revealed that many Wikipedia anatomy articles were difficult to read. Each article's quality was dependent on edit frequency and article length. Learners and students should be cautious when using Wikipedia articles for anatomy education due to these limitations.

Shopping in Virtual Reality Stores: The Influence of Immersion on System Adoption

Companies have the opportunity to better engage potential customers by presenting products to them in a highly immersive virtual reality (VR) shopping environment. However, a minimal amount is known about why and whether customers will adopt such fully immersive shopping environments. We therefore develop and experimentally validate a theoretical model, which explains how immersion affects adoption. The participants experienced the environment by using a head-mounted display (high immersion) or by viewing product models in 3D on a desktop (low immersion). We find that immersion does not affect the users’ intention to reuse the shopping environment, because two paths cancel each other out: Highly immersive shopping environments positively influence a hedonic path through telepresence, but surprisingly, they negatively influence a utilitarian path through product diagnosticity. We can explain this effect via low readability of product information in the VR environment and expect VR’s full potential to develop when the technology is further advanced. Our study contributes to literature on immersive systems and IS adoption research by introducing a research model for the adoption of VR shopping environments. A key practical implication of our study is that system designers need to pay special attention to the current state of technology when designing VR applications.

Setting the Methodological Framework for Accessibility in Geo-Mining Heritage Settings—An Ongoing Study of Iglesiente Area (Sardinia, Italy)

This paper aims to discover why and how accessibility is fundamental to sustainable local development in heritage settings. We discussed the dimensions and variables of accessibility that control the development. Correspondingly, we proposed an interpretative framework for sustainable development planning and management of low urbanized spatial settings and accessibility for the Iglesiente Geo-mining heritage in Sardinia (Italy). The Iglesiente area is affected by a deep post-mining crisis that is reflected in poor socioeconomic conditions and an evident space oriented set of problems (a disorder in landscape matrix, low readability of space, scarce infrastructure and low accessibility). To revert negative trends of space-related problems, the paper proposes a theoretical model acting as an anticipatory landscape planning tool. The model copes with the context-specific problems in combination with theoretical findings. It acts at various scales through the definition of boundaries and variables of the internal and external environment, providing the territorial matrix of equity and cohesion. Furthermore, we argued the limitation and advantages of the model to its implementation capacity for the Geo-mining heritage and low-urbanized spatial settings. The empirical findings from an ongoing project about accessibility to territorial knowledge and services in the Iglesiente area, currently in progress, allow us to test and adjust the methodological framework in the next steps.

Online information on dysmenorrhoea: An evaluation of readability, credibility, quality and usability.

To evaluate online information on dysmenorrhoea, including readability, credibility, quality and usability. Menstrual pain impacts 45%-95% of women of reproductive age globally and is the leading cause of school and work absences among women. Women often seek online information on dysmenorrhoea; however, little is known about the information quality. This was a descriptive study to evaluate online information on dysmenorrhoea. We imitated search strategies of the general public. Specifically, we employed the three most popular search engines worldwide-Google, Yahoo and Bing-and used lay search terms, "period pain" and "menstrual cramps." We screened 60 web pages. Following removal of duplicates and irrelevant web pages, 25 met the eligibility criteria. Two team members independently evaluated the included web pages using standardised tools. Readability was evaluated with the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade formulas; credibility, quality and usability were evaluated with established tools. We followed the STROBE checklist for reporting this study. For readability, the mean Flesch-Kincaid level was 10th grade. For credibility, 8% of web pages referenced scientific literature and 28% stated the author's name and qualifications. For quality, no web page employed user-driven content production; 8% of web pages referenced evidence-based guidelines, 32% of web pages had accurate content, and 4% of web pages recommended shared decision-making. Most web pages were interactive and included nontextual information. Some nontextual information was inaccurate. Online information on dysmenorrhoea has generally low readability, mixed credibility and variable quality. Strategies to improve health information on dysmenorrhoea include avoiding complex terms, incorporating visual aids, presenting evidence-based information and developing a decision aid to support shared decision-making. Healthcare providers should be aware of the problematic health information that individuals are exposed to and provide education about how to navigate online health information.

Languages for different health information readers: multitrait-multimethod content analysis of Cochrane systematic reviews textual summary formats

BackgroundAlthough subjective expressions and linguistic fluency have been shown as important factors in processing and interpreting textual facts, analyses of these traits in textual health information for different audiences are lacking. We analyzed the readability and linguistic psychological and emotional characteristics of different textual summary formats of Cochrane systematic reviews.MethodsWe performed a multitrait-multimethod cross-sectional study of Press releases available at Cochrane web site (n = 162) and corresponding Scientific abstracts (n = 158), Cochrane Clinical Answers (n = 35) and Plain language summaries in English (n = 156), French (n = 101), German (n = 41) and Croatian (n = 156). We used SMOG index to assess text readability of all text formats, and natural language processing tools (IBM Watson Tone Analyzer, Stanford NLP Sentiment Analysis and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count) to examine the affective states and subjective information in texts of Scientific abstracts, Plain language summaries and Press releases.ResultsAll text formats had low readability, with SMOG index ranging from a median of 15.6 (95% confidence interval (CI) 15.3–15.9) for Scientific abstracts to 14.7 (95% CI 14.4–15.0) for Plain language summaries. In all text formats, “Sadness” was the most dominantly perceived emotional tone and the style of writing was perceived as “Analytical” and “Tentative”. At the psychological level, all text formats exhibited the predominant “Openness” tone, and Press releases scored higher on the scales of “Conscientiousness”, “Agreeableness” and “Emotional range”. Press releases had significantly higher scores than Scientific abstracts and Plain language summaries on the dimensions of “Clout”, and “Emotional tone”.ConclusionsAlthough the readability of Plain language summaries was higher than that of text formats targeting more expert audiences, the required literacy was much higher than the recommended US 6th grade level. The language of Press releases was generally more engaging than that of Scientific abstracts and Plain language summaries, which are written by the authors of systematic reviews. Preparation of textual summaries about health evidence for different audiences should take into account readers’ subjective experiences to encourage cognitive processing and reaction to the provided information.

Need assessment of integrated natural science textbook based on Research-Based Learning for Junior High School

Student’s learning outcomes are still low indicating the implementation of the 2013 curriculum on integrated natural science subjects in SMP has not been maximized. The textbook used does not support learners for active learning, consequently the teacher still tends to use teacher-centred learning. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the needs of integrated natural science textbook based on Research-based Learning for junior high school. Research data collected by interview and questionnaire form, as well as analyze by descriptive. The finding shown that (1) according to front-end analysis, the textbook have low readability, not supporting student’s innovation, and not based on learning model and teachers need to apply student centred approach; (2) analysis of learners shown that students are kinaesthetic learners but student’s ability to solve the problem is low; and (3) analysis of subject matter shown that there are five topics of integrated natural science based on research based learning. Accordingly, it needs an integrated natural science textbook based on Research-based Learning for junior high school.