Verbal-protocol-guided revisions of functional documents improved comprehension, with error rates falling from 50% to 22% despite longer texts¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · reviewr2·q2
Currency · newest study 1991 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i1 Protocol-aided revisions of car insurance policies, though up to four times longer than the originals, were read more quickly and reduced comprehension error rates from 50% to 22%. → Mary H. Sawyer 1991
Evidence¶
Mary H. Sawyer 1991¶
Mary H. Sawyer. (1991). A Review of Research in Revising Instructional Text. Journal of Reading Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1080/10862969109547744
q2 · i? · review · r2
The review reports Swaney et al.'s (1981) protocol-aided revision of car insurance policies as part of the Document Design Project work; the revised texts were read more quickly and "comprehension error rates decreased from 50% to 22%".
"even though the protocol-aided revisions were up to four times longer than the originals, they were read more quickly, did not receive the original's negative comments, and comprehension error rates decreased from 50% to 22%"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Textual material treated with embedded aids produced 10-15% higher reading comprehension scores than conventional text, statistically significant at the .01 level, in a science-material study with approximately 200 tenth graders across three schools. — related
- Narrative memory is superior when content follows stereotypical story grammar structure, and goal information is critical to comprehension — related
- A WestEd research bulletin reports a curriculum revision that replaced a decorative photograph in a math problem with a problem-relevant sketch, on the developers' view that such photographs distract students — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
protocol-guided-revision-improves-comprehension |
title |
Verbal-protocol-guided revisions of functional documents improved comprehension, with error rates falling from 50% to 22% despite longer texts |
description |
Verbal-protocol-guided revisions of functional documents improved comprehension, with error rates falling from 50% to 22% despite longer texts |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
1991 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-16 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — mary-h-sawyer-1991 |
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