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From: "Black, Michelle" <michelleb@chn-rcs.ca>
To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov>
Subject: [NIFL-HEALTH:2315] RE: Risk Factors
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Greetings,
I've been a longtime "lurker," but thought my response to this one might be
food for more discussion or learning.
I agree with Leslie's methods, and use them myself. However, I find it gets
trickier when we stop talking about "one in five people," and start talking
about "50% chance of getting (such and such a disease)." Another similar one
I have trouble with is "a 1 in 20 chance."
I was just yesterday telling someone that it seems plain language writers
need basic knowledge of statistics methodology, to ensure that we
communicate this information as plainly and accurately as possible.
Moreover, this might also help us to educate people--and ourselves--about
how the ways stats are presented can greatly influence the reader's view of
the enormity of a situation. And this is for *all* readers -- not just those
with low literacy.
Does anyone know of good resources to help statistically-low-literate folks
like myself better understand them?
Thanks,
Michelle Black
-----Original Message-----
From: Leslie Dawson [mailto:ldawson@aerie.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2000 10:32 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [NIFL-HEALTH:2312] RE: Risk Factors
Interesting problem. I've been writing limited literacy health materials for
some time, and have learned that expressing risk or other proportional
thoughts are more easily comprehended by saying:
"one out of five" (as opposed to) "20 percent" --will get hives or
something. I would also try to keep the numbers in a range from one to ten,
avoid fractions and decimals. Limited literacy folks (50 percent or more of
the adult population) don't get much out of mathematical graphics. I'd use
little pictographs of people (one dark figure and four light ones, or
something). Wish I could get you the references, but it's what my field
testing bears out.
Leslie
-----Original Message-----
From: sm@smcmillan.com [mailto:sm@smcmillan.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2000 5:59 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [NIFL-HEALTH:2311] Risk Factors
I'm currently developing a computer based patient ed piece on hypertension
and
pondering the best way of communicating concepts such as probability, risk,
risk
factors, etc. The approach is primarily graphical supplemented with
animations,
text and audio.
Anyone have any experience explaining risk and risk factors in a
quantitative or
semi-quantitative manner?
Best regards
Seamus McMillan
Seamus McMillan, Ph.D.
Office: (952) 937-5134 Fax: (952) 975-9708
E-Mail: sm@smcmillan.com (preferred) or smcm@aol.com
WWW: http://www.labmed.umn.edu/~seamus/
Delphi Assoc. Inc., |16526 W. 78th St.|Second Source Alliance,
smcm@DelphiGrp.com |Suite 197, |seamus@secondsource.org
http://www.DelphiGrp.com |Eden Prairie, |(952) 975-6078
|MN 55346-4358. |http://www.secondsource.org
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