Research about plain English
People want information in plain English
Recent researchi by the National Adult Literacy Agency found that almost 95% of Irish
adults are in favour of business and organisations providing information in plain English.
The research also found that about half of the respondents (48%) find official
documents difficult to understand. Over half of these found jargon, especially technical
and legal jargon, difficult to understand. Over a third (35%) also said that they found
information from the public service and from the Government challenging and a
fifth (12%) said financial information was difficult to understand.
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The longer your sentence, the less your readers will understand
Long sentences aren’t just difficult for people who struggle with reading or have
dyslexia. They’re also a problem for highly literate people with extensive vocabularies.
This is partly because people tend to scan, not read. In fact, most people only read
around 25% of what’s on a page. This means it’s important to get information across
quickly.
The longer your sentences, the less your readers will understand, according to research
by the American Press Institute. The study shows that:
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When the average sentence length in a piece was fewer than eight words long,
readers understood 100 percent of the story.
Even at 14 words, they could comprehend more than 90 percent of the
information.
But move up to 43-word sentences, and comprehension dropped below 10
percent.
Bottom line: To improve understanding, break sentences up or condense them.
i
The 2014 research was commissioned by the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA)
and carried out by Empathy Research. There were 1,100 participants in the survey. The
survey was nationally representative of 18+ year olds living in the Republic of Ireland.
The questions asked (and answers received) were as follows:
Q1. Have you heard of plain English?
Over 50% had heard of plain English.
Q2. Do you think Irish businesses and organisations should provide information
in plain English?
Almost 95% of Irish adults are in favour of organisations providing information in
Plain English
Q3. Do you know that some organisations are obliged to provide their information
in plain English?
A quarter of the respondents (25%) knew that plain English is a requirement for
some organisations.
Q4. Do you ever find information on official documents difficult to understand?
48% of people tend to find official documents difficult to understand.
If yes, please specify what types of information you find most difficult to
understand.
53% stated technical jargon, legal clauses, and terms and conditions.
35% stated public service and Government information
12% stated financial information.
Q5. Can you name businesses or organisations that you would like to see use
plain English?
31% couldn’t name any business or organisation
29% named Government
16% named Financial
24% named others (legal, service, medical)