1. Primary Audience Analysisand Technical Reporting

2. What Is Audience Analysis?

Audience analysis is the process of dissecting & examining theintendedreaders of a document in order to adapt your writing to their needs, wants, beliefs attitudes, etc. Documents that meet the primary audiences needs are more likely to be used.

Sample Audience Analysis:

We will prepare this technical description for the employees of Corporation X. This population ranges in age from approximately 22 for recent college graduates to about 70 for our semi-retired part-timers. The gender ratio of the corporation is fairly evenly divided,approximately 40% female and 60% male. All readers will have at least a high school diploma or the equivalent, and several members of the management have MBAs. The corporation includes many different ethnicities: approximately 40% Asian, 30% white, 10% black, 10% Hispanic, and 10% other.

This product uses completely new technology; therefore, we do not anticipate having any experienced users. We expect that employees who play video games on their break will embrace the new technology, while those who dislike email and instant messaging will resist it. We anticipate the engineers and designers will need only a quick start guide; however, management and human resources will need detailed directions, background, and definitions

3.

• aprimary audienceof people who use your document in carrying out their jobs

• asecondary audienceof people who need to stay aware of developments in the organization but who will not directly act on or respond to your document

• atertiary audienceof people who might take an interest in the subject of the document

Review of Types of Audiences 4. Purpose of Audience Analysis

The purpose of technical reporting is to give the audience something valuable.Whether you are creating a technical description or a persuasive proposal, if the audience does not understand it or doesnt read it, the purpose will be lost.

Be anaudience-centered writerand ask these three questions before drafting:

• 1.Who am I writing for?

• 2.What do I want them to know, believe, or do because of my document or presentation?

• 3.What do I want this document to accomplish? What do I want readers to do?

5.

• the readers education

• the readers professional experience

• the readers job responsibility

• the readers personal characteristics

• the readers personal preferences

• the readers cultural characteristics

Factors to Consider About Your Target Reader 6. Why is Audience Analysis Important?

Audiences are egocentric.(Whats in it for me?)

Audiences will judge writing based on what they already know and believe.

• What do they know or think they know?

To be an effective communicator, you must relate your message to a primary target audiences existing interests/concerns, knowledge, and beliefs.

7.

EXPERT

TECHNICIAN

MANAGER OR EXECUTIVE

GENERAL READER OR LAYMAN

General Categories of Audiences 8. Variables That Lie Beneath the Surface:

• Each variable on the right represents a spectrum of attitudes.

• The variables may not line up in a clear pattern for all employees.

• Different organizations within the same culture can vary greatly.

• An organizations cultural attitudes are fluid, not static.

• Variables

• distance between business life and private life

• distance between ranks within a company

• nature of truth

• need to spell out details

• attitudes toward uncertainty

9. Primary Audiences in the Workplace and Age

Younger adults (under 30) and near-retirement adults are less motivated by career-related innovation; a more engaging, persuasive approach to communication is needed with those groups.

Needs for caution and risk information increase with age of primary audience. Younger audiences easily ignore safety info.

• What are the implications for what to include or emphasize?

10. Primary Audience and Gender

Some technical fields are predominantly male (e.g. IT); others are female (Vet Tech). If you are targeting the opposite gender in a documentorboth genders out of a single-sex dominant culture, keep in mind:

Gender differences relate more toculture or sub-culturethan to biology.

Females are more people-oriented in getting information; males are more thing oriented. Consider the implications for document organization.

• Men may feel communication should get to the point; women may feel that approach is too direct and cold. Its hard to relate to information that does not meet your expectations for tone and organization.

• Meet the expectations of the culture who the document is targeting.

11. Primary Audiences and Education

Opinions of well-educated, knowledgeable audiences are more firmly held, and more consistent over time.

Listening and reading skills increase with education.

Changesin attitude of well-educated audiences are usually related to new information they receive,notpersuasion.

Knowledgeable readers want to know where the new info comes from; they consider the source more often.

Opinions of less-educated, less knowledgeable primary audiences are more pessimistic about their capability to understandor change.

• Using a positive approach in documents for the general reader is crucial.

• Be aware that some fields dont expect change; others anticipate it

12. Writing for Multi-lingual Audiences

Limit your vocabulary.

Keep sentences short.

Define abbreviations and acronyms in a glossary.

Avoid jargon unless youknowyour readers are familiar with it.

Avoid idioms and slang.

Use the active voice whenever possible.

Be careful with graphics.

Be sure someone from the target culture reviews the document.

13. Document Contexts

Examine the features of the audience unique to the situation:

What is the audiences disposition toward the:

• Topic?

• Writer (you)?

How motivated is the target audience to listen to or understand the information? What is the nature of their motivation to understand?

Are theyforcedto read orwantto read the info? This can affect the tone, structure, and organization of your document!

14. Questions Used to Analyze

Questions to consider about your primary, target audience:

What is your target audiences experience with your topic? Positive, negative, or neutral? Is it unfamiliar info? Or info so familiar your audience thinks they know more than they actually do?

What terms and concepts will they probably not understand? How well-educated are they? Do they have good reading skills? Good listening skills?

What do you need to tell them so that they understand your meaning?

What misconceptions might they have?

15. Adapt Your Writing for the Primary Audience

By tailoring writing in content, language, organization, and amount of detail, to the target audience you have identified.

Be specific in picking an audiencedont assume everyone who can read English willneed orwantto read the info. Identifywhya target group would want the informationand organize your document around those needs.

Talktoyour audience, notatthem. Change your vocabulary to fit the knowledge of your target audience.

Begin your documents with a clear statement of purpose and clear indications of what the document does and doesnt contain, to connect with the readers needs right away.

16. Adapt Writing for the Primary Audience

Addinformation readers need to understand your document.

Omitinformation your readers do not need.

Write stronger introductions both for the whole documentandfor major sections..

Create topic sentencesfor paragraphs and paragraph groups.

Add examplesto help readers understand.

Change the organizationof your information.

Change sentence lengthand style.

Work onsentence clarityand economy.

Use more or differentgraphics .

Break text upor consolidate text into meaningful, usable chunks.

Add cross-referencesto important information.

Use headings and lists.

17. Purpose of Your Document

Along with audience,purposeshapes the writing situation of the document. In most cases, writers can express the purpose of the document in a sentence (for example, This document explains howto upgradethe operating system on your computer).

After assessing the writing situation, writers should determine how the purpose will affect the scope, structure, organization, sentence structure and length, vocabulary, and tone of the document. Keep in mind that a document may have multiple purposes or different purposes for different audiences.