Extended Abstract: Plain Language in the Sciences: A Qualitative Meta-Study of Research

Abstract

Research on plain-language communication has been conducted across many fields, making it difficult for technical communication scholars and practitioners to engage with it. This presentation provides the preliminary findings of a qualitative meta-analysis that compiles and synthesizes this wide scope of recent research. The session focuses on a subset of the larger project: plain language in the sciences. I will first present a summary of the research from the sciences, mapping questions and findings related to plain language, its effectiveness, and its goals. Second, I consider this research in light of technical communication’s calls toward social justice and the role plain language may play in those efforts. I look at the ways these outside studies conceptualize users and whether they account for the social, material, and historical contexts of user communities through the use of plain language.