Term of Award

Spring 1981

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)

Department

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Georgelle Thomas

Committee Member 1

Richard L. Rogers

Committee Member 2

Paul R. Kleinginna, Jr.

Abstract

This study evaluated the ease of comprehension of non-prescription drug directions. Six product labels were chosen and revised to reduce the readability level and to minimize technically, medically, and chemically oriented words and phrases. Comprehension of the original directions and the revised directions was tested using 285 subjects. The subjects were placed into one of three reading ability groups: above average, average, and below average, based on their scores on the reading comprehension sub-test of the Nelson-Denny Reading Test. It was found that each of the three reading ability groups reading the revised directions comprehended the material significantly better than their counterparts who read the original directions. The below average reader did not comprehend the revised directions as well as the above average reader who read the revised directions, but did comprehend the revised material as well as the above average reader who read the original directions. The results suggest that by minimizing technically, medically, and chemically oriented words and phrases, comprehension is increased for all reading ability levels.

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