AUDIENCE ANALYSIS WORKSHOP
PAGE 1 INTRODUCTION
Audience analysis is your ticket to success!
Audience analysis is your ticket to success!
The purpose of audience analysis is to clearly define the audience in order to effectively apply the key concepts of context, audience, and purpose to choices about register, style, and content. According to an expert on document design, Karen Schriver (1997), three methods of conducting an audience analysis are commonly used.
The classification method. Using this method, a design team constructs a profile of the intended audience by brainstorming. Audience characteristics are listed such as: age, gender, educational background, cultural and language background, religion, economic class, hobbies, etc. The design team adjusts the document's register, style, use of graphics, and other layout matters according to what seems appropriate for this invented audience.
The intuition method. Using this method, a design team constructs a profile of the intended audience based on their personal experiences with the topic and the experiences with people they know who fit the rough profile of the intended audience. The design team uses role playing to imagine themselves as the audience, and then they use the information gained to construct a document plan that would work for the imagined audience.
The listening method. Using this method, a design team interviews and observes potential audience members to learn about their needs, their level of experience with the subject, their ways of accessing information, etc. The design team then constructs a draft based on what they learn. The team then tests the draft with other potential members of the audience and makes additional revisions based on the facts of the tests.
No one, to date, claims that these methods are exhaustive. Nor does anyone claim that one of these methods is always right. Sometimes time/cost/purpose considerations dictate one method rather than another. Sometimes, some combination of two or three methods are appropriate.
In the following pages, five "tickets to success" are presented as suggestions for types of information to be gathered for an audience analysis. When conducting an audience analysis, writers do not ignore any of these questions. They may choose to not answer some that do not apply, but they first think carefully about applicability. Test your understanding on page 7. See page 8 for selected readings.
Reference
Schriver, K. A. (1997). Dynamics in document design: Creating texts for readers. New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
The classification method. Using this method, a design team constructs a profile of the intended audience by brainstorming. Audience characteristics are listed such as: age, gender, educational background, cultural and language background, religion, economic class, hobbies, etc. The design team adjusts the document's register, style, use of graphics, and other layout matters according to what seems appropriate for this invented audience.
The intuition method. Using this method, a design team constructs a profile of the intended audience based on their personal experiences with the topic and the experiences with people they know who fit the rough profile of the intended audience. The design team uses role playing to imagine themselves as the audience, and then they use the information gained to construct a document plan that would work for the imagined audience.
The listening method. Using this method, a design team interviews and observes potential audience members to learn about their needs, their level of experience with the subject, their ways of accessing information, etc. The design team then constructs a draft based on what they learn. The team then tests the draft with other potential members of the audience and makes additional revisions based on the facts of the tests.
No one, to date, claims that these methods are exhaustive. Nor does anyone claim that one of these methods is always right. Sometimes time/cost/purpose considerations dictate one method rather than another. Sometimes, some combination of two or three methods are appropriate.
In the following pages, five "tickets to success" are presented as suggestions for types of information to be gathered for an audience analysis. When conducting an audience analysis, writers do not ignore any of these questions. They may choose to not answer some that do not apply, but they first think carefully about applicability. Test your understanding on page 7. See page 8 for selected readings.
Reference
Schriver, K. A. (1997). Dynamics in document design: Creating texts for readers. New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Copyright Ida L. Rodgers, 2004
Updated January 16, 2012
Updated January 16, 2012