An Experimental Study On Communicating Specialized Science Information To a Lay Audience

An experiment was done to test the effects of stylistic and rhetorical manipulations in specialized science writing on audience variables such as enjoyment, attitudes, and information gain. Articles on enzymology, polymer chemistry, and plasma physics were prepared, and, with content held constant, variations were made in textual variables such as sentence length, vocabulary difficulty, the amount of analogy used, and so on. The effects of these manipulations were tested on three audiences: junior college students, university students, and professional scientists. Among the study's findings were: some stylistic and rhetorical manipulations do have effects on audience variables, but more with less-qualified audiences; a given body of content can be varied across a wide range of vocabulary and sentence length; students' attitudes toward science are nearly as favorable as those of professional scientists; and professional scientists appreciate a simple style of presentation as much as students do.