So You Think You Know What Your Readers Want?

摘要

This paper presents the results of an applied research study to determine how readers define documentation quality (DQ), as well as how writers assume readers define it. Using a narrow yet comprehensive set of distinct, empirically based information quality (IQ) dimensions that cover all categories of IQ - Intrinsic, Representational, Contextual, and Accessibility - questionnaires were sent asking respondents to rank these IQ dimensions, and the data was analyzed statistically. The outcome of this research indicates that writers make some significant mistakes when assuming how readers define DQ - but there are some concrete steps that can be taken to address them.