Saul Carliner

What Does the Transactions Publish? What do Transactions' Readers Want to Read?

Research Problem: Investigate the match between content published by the Transactions and content sought by its readers. Research Questions: What content does the IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication publish? How does that compare to the content published by other journals in the field? And what content do readers of the Transactions want to read? Literature Review: Researchers in most fields occasionally analyze the entire body of literature within a discipline to assess the current state of the literature, identify leading works, assess the state of the literature, provide a basis for changing the direction of a journal, and assess alignment among parts of the literature. Methodology: To identify what journals published, researchers used the STC Body of Knowledge schema and a list of categories of research methods that classify all peer-reviewed articles published between January 2006 and December 2010 in the Transactions, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Technical Communication, and Technical Communication Quarterly. To identify reader preferences of the Transactions, researchers surveyed members of the IEEE Professional Communication Society about their preferences for content and types of research. Results and Discussion: In terms of the topics covered, the three most widely covered topics in the Transactions were: (1) Deliverables, (2) Information Design and Development, and (3) Academic Programs. Readers prefer (1) About Technical and Professional Communication, (2) Information Design and Development, and (3) Research Theory, and Practice. The three least-covered topics were (1) Business Knowledge, (2) About Technical Communication, and (3) Technical Communication Standards. Of least interest to participants were: (1) Deliverables, (2) Quality Assurance, (3) Management, and (4) Technical Communication Standards. The Transactions primarily publishes experiments, surveys, and tutorials while readers prefer case studies, literature reviews, and tutorials.

Lists: The ultimate organizer for engineering writing

The use of lists in engineering writing as organizational tools is recommended. Well-designed lists can help readers see what is important and how those items relate to one another, and to remember what they see. Guidelines for the use and construction of lists in technical material are presented.

Update to who says what to whom? Assessing the alignment of content and audience between scholarly and professional publications in technical communication (1996–2013)

Academe-industry relations are an ongoing topic in the conversation on technical communication. Key issues in the conversation include alignment between academic curricula and industry needs, the effectiveness of the preparation provided by academic programs, and the alignment of interests between the two groups. However, no study has attempted to empirically assess the extent of the academic and industry alignment empirically. This paper provides updated results from our ongoing exploration of this issue. It is guided by the following questions: (1) What content areas are covered by both peer-reviewed and trade publications?, (2) What content areas are unique to each type of publication?, and (3) Who is the intended audience of the content? To assess this alignment, we coded for three major content areas in a random sample of 986 articles published between 1996 and 2013 in four leading peer-reviewed journals (IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Technical Communication, and Technical Communication Quarterly) and one publication for practicing technical communicators (Intercom).

Different Approaches to Similar Challenges: An Analysis of the Occupational Cultures of the Disciplines of Technical Communication and Training Tutorial

Problem: Perhaps it is presumptuous of technical communicators to assume that, because some of their skills that might be employed in developing and delivering training materials, that those skills alone are qualifications to work in training, much less the source by which the processes of Training might be examined. Using data from one survey and one interview-based study of the work of Technical communication and Training groups, as well as participation on committees responsible for certification examinations for technical communicators and trainers, this tutorial analyzes differences in the occupational cultures of the two fields. Key concepts: The work differs: technical communicators produce content that explains how to perform tasks; trainers produce programs that develop skills that a third party can verify. To do so, technical communicators follow a process that emphasizes writing and production; trainers follow a process that emphasizes the analysis of intended goals and evaluation of whether those goals have been achieved. The guiding philosophy of Technical communication is usability; the guiding philosophy of Training is performance. Although both disciplines are rooted in cognitive psychology, the primary intellectual roots of Technical communication are in rhetoric and composition, while the primary intellectual roots are in education. The preferred research methods of Technical communication are critical; the preferred research methods of trainers are empirical qualitative and quantitative methods. Key lessons: As a result, Technical communication professionals and researchers who want to work in training should approach the field in a culturally appropriate way by (1) recognizing distinctions between a communication product and a training program, (2) recognizing distinctions in work processes, (3) recognizing distinctions in language, (4) recognizing differences in values, and (5) acknowledging that an academic discipline of training exists.

Is our peer-reviewed literature sustainable?

This paper presents a snapshot of a content-analysis study of five years of issues for the four key technical communication journals. Using coding schemes for topics and types of research used to generate data on which conclusions are based, the authors coded all articles in the last five years of our major journals. This paper reviews the current state of the peer-reviewed literature to determine topics covered and overlooked; research methods; dominant authors (if any); the assessed level of consistency between the editorial focus of each journal as stated in its editorial mission and the peer-reviewed literature that is actually published in the journal; and the similarities and distinctions between and among the journals.

How Research Moves into Practice: A Preliminary Study of What Training Professionals Read, Hear, and Perceive

Abstract In the growing body of research on the practice of training and development, several studies suggest that use of research-based findings in practice is low. The present study was designed to better understand the research-practice gap by exploring these questions: (1) Which published sources in the field are practicing professionals reading? How frequently do they read these materials? (2) Which conferences and meetings do practicing professionals attend? How frequently do they attend these events? (3) In what formats are research content most usable to practicing professionals? (4) What are practicing professionals’ general perceptions of research publications and presentations? Key findings point to publications having a wider reach among practicing professionals than conferences and, of those publications, professional magazines have a wider reach than peer-reviewed journals. In terms of the manner in which the content is presented, practicing professionals prefer case studies from the workplace over other types of content. Resume : Dans le corpus croissant de recherches portant sur la pratique de la formation et du perfectionnement, plusieurs etudes suggerent une faible utilisation des resultats de recherche dans la pratique. La presente etude a ete concue afin de mieux comprendre l’ecart entre la recherche et la pratique par l’examen des questions suivantes : (1) Quelles sources de publications du domaine les professionnels pratiquants lisent-ils? A quelle frequence lisent-ils ces publications? (2) A quelles conferences et reunions les professionnels pratiquants assistent-ils? A quelle frequence assistent-ils a ces evenements? (3) Dans quels formats les contenus de recherche sont-ils le plus facilement utilisables par les professionnels pratiquants? (4) Quelles sont les perceptions generales des professionnels pratiquants envers les publications et presentations de recherche? Les resultats principaux indiquent que les publications rejoignent davantage de professionnels pratiquants que les conferences et que, parmi ces publications, les magazines specialises ont une portee plus vaste que les publications evaluees par les pairs. En ce qui concerne la maniere dont le contenu est presente, les professionnels pratiquants preferent les etudes de cas en milieu de travail aux autres types de contenu.

The job of a performance consultant: a qualitative content analysis of job descriptions

Purpose – This study aims to explore the competencies needed by performance consultants, a particular role identified for training and development professionals. The role was formally named and promoted nearly two decades ago. Two ongoing discussions in the field are the competencies needed by training and development professionals and the role of consulting within the field. Design/methodology/approach – This study identifies the general competencies needed by a performance consultant as reflected in job descriptions for the position. It accomplished this goal by collecting job descriptions for the position from organizations in Canada (the result of a practical arrangement with an organization that would collect the descriptions and remove identifying information before the research team analyzed them), systematically analyzing them using qualitative content analysis techniques and generating a profile of the position, which can be used as a basis for further analysis of the position. Findings – The job...

Characteristics of effective e-textbooks: Lessons from the literature

Among the most recent new media on which to deliver content is e-books. At their simplest, e-books are digital versions of books that users read on a digital device, such as a computer or a tablet. One particular area of interest in this arena is e-textbooks. For professional communicators who develop e-textbooks, what does the research suggest about the appropriateness of e-texts, design considerations, and effective strategies for presenting content? This preliminary integrative literature review addresses that question.

Workshop in conducting integrative literature reviews

This workshop provides a high-level overview of the process for preparing an integrative literature review. An “integrative literature review is a form of research that reviews, critiques, and synthesizes representative literature on a topic in an integrated way such that new frameworks and perspectives on the topic are generated” (Torraco, 2005, p. 356) This workshop first explains why integrative literature reviews are becoming increasingly popular in research circles, then contrasts integrative literature reviews with meta-analyses, meta-syntheses and other related forms of advanced literature reviews, as well as with more traditional literature reviews. Next, this workshop describes methodological considerations for finding, including, and excluding studies; processes for reviewing and classifying the literature, analyzing the resulting data, and the four types of findings that typical integrative literature reviews typically report. The workshop closes by directing participants to samples of integrative literature reviews and identifying considerations for submitting these reviews to peer-reviewed publications. To guide participants through this experience, this workshop is built around a sample literature review project. Participants will practice the skills taught by applying them to the sample project. For example, to illustrate methodological considerations, participants will identify characteristics for including and excluding studies in a search and, later, will receive a sample list of studies to determine whether or not to actually include them in the review.

Long Live Instructor-Led Learning

In March 2009, the monthly question on ASTDs Learning Circuits blog wonders what training will look like in 2019. Nearly all the contributors predicted the death of the classroom. Before you buy that, perhaps I can interest you in some mortgage-backed securities? Consider the case for the death of the classroom to be about as strong as those securities.