Survey of reader preferences concerning the format of NASA langley-authored technical reports |
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| Authors: | Thomas E Pinelli Rebecca O Barclay John M Kennedy |
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| Institution: | (1) Visual Imaging Branch, NASA Langley Research Center, Virginia, U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | The U.S. government technical report is a primary means by which the results of federally funded research and development
(R&D) are transferred to the U.S. aerospace industry. However, little is known about this information product in terms of
its actual use, importance, and value in the transfer of federally funded R&D. Little is also known about the intermediary-based
system that is used to transfer the results of federally funded R&D to the U.S. aerospace industry. To help establish a body
of knowledge, the U.S. government technical report is being investigated as part of the NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. In this article, we summarize the literature on the U.S. government technical report and present the results of a survey
of U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists that solicited their opinions concerning the format of NASA Langley Research Center
(LaRC)-authored technical reports. To learn more about the preferences of U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists concerning
the format of NASA LaRC-authored technical reports, we surveyed 133 report producers (i.e., authors) and 137 report users
in March–April 1996. Questions covered such topics as: (a) the order in which report components are read; (b) components used
to determine if a report would be read; (c) those components that could be deleted; (d) the placement of such components as
the symbols list; (e) the desirability of a table of contents; (f) the format of reference citations; (g) column layout and
right margin treatment; and (h) writing style in terms of person and voice. Mail (self-reported) surveys were used to collect
the data. The response rates for report producers (i.e., authors) was 68% and for users, was 62%. |
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