Task and Audience Analysis Exercise 

Exercise 1: What to include? What to leave out?

Table 1 contains a collection of details about a research project you have just completed on thunderstorms. Imagine that you’re writing documents for each of the 5 following audiences: 

A. Your boss

B. Scientists

C. The general public

D. Politician    

E. Students     

What information about thunderstorms might each ask you for? As you go down the list, write in the blank spaces in front of each detail the letter that correspond to the audiences that you think would find this detail most relevant. Consider what kind of document might contain that information for that audience.

Table 1. Details About Your Research Project On Thunderstorms

C	The dollar damage caused by thunderstorms each year.
E	A literature review of previous research on thunderstorms.
B	Descriptions of calibration procedures for your instruments.
B	Some basic physics of how thunderstorms work.
A	How much your project costs.
E	A log of all your measurements during the whole project.
A	A list of everyone who worked on the project.
B	Specifications of a new instrument to measure hail size.
B	A new result showing a connection between lightning intensity and total rainfall.
B	A new result showing how to suppress hail.
B	New insights into the flow patterns around thunderstorms.
E	Procedures you used to avoid statistical biases in your data.
E	Your plans for further measurements.
E	Your recommendations for future research.

 

Exercise 2:  Compare audience needs

First, fill in Table 2 with the kind of information the following audiences might be looking for when reading. How specific does the information need to be? Do they need definitions? Etc.

Table 2.  Audience Analysis Schematic

4 categories of audiences	Examples/roles	Kind of information required:
Laypeople	General public Non-Specialists General “users”	Inflation rate of the economy. (Requires definition of inflation)
Executives	Decision Makers (manage resources and people)	Data on organizational performance. E.g., financial reports. (No definitions required)
Experts	Advisors (use their expertise to help decision makers)	Investment analysis and reports. ((No definitions required)
Technicians	Implementers	Manuals and technical reports on systems, devices or machineries. (No definitions required)

In a few sentences each describe what differences in purpose, content, and format you would need to consider in the following examples: 

1)  A report on Internet Privacy Issues           for a new internet user

                                                                        for an e-commerce website developer

	Purpose	Content	Format
for a new internet user	To communicate the basic needed but relevant information on how to surf the internet whiles protecting user-privacy.	Simple language, short sentences, and in paragraphs	Short electronic or printed format in the form of a friendly user-manual.
for an e-commerce website developer	To communicate the technical requirements to the developer to enable the development of the website.	Highly structured	Electronic format (to enable quick and easy changes if the need arises) with guides to describe technical requirements

2)  Information on Lyme Disease                   for camping enthusiasts

                                                                        for a family practice physician

                                                                        for public health department

	Purpose	Content	Format
for camping enthusiasts	To create awareness on Lyme disease to enable them prepare ahead for their camping journey.	Simple language, short sentences, and in paragraphs	Short electronic or printed format.
for a family practice physician	To further educate the physician on the Lyme disease.	Simple language, short sentences, and in paragraphs	Short electronic or printed format and is typically objective and evidence-based and might include list, and/or tables.
for public health department	To educate patients and the general public on the Lyme disease.	Simple language, short sentences, and in paragraphs	Short electronic or printed format.

3)  Food born diseases                                                for a restaurant worker

                                                                        for a health inspector training manual

	Purpose	Content	Format
for a restaurant worker	To communicate the causes of food borne diseases and the measures or practices to follow for food safety.	Simple language, short sentences, and in paragraphs	Short electronic or printed format.
for a health inspector training manual	To provide education to the general public on food safety.	Simple language, short sentences, and in paragraphs	Short electronic or printed format in the form of a friendly user-manual.

4)  Proposal for a new bus shelter design       Mayor’s office

                                                                        Contractor

                                                                        Newspaper reporter

	Purpose	Content	Format
Mayor’s office	To evaluate the proposal to ensure that it is suitable and appropriate for the city.	Simple language, short sentences, and in paragraphs	Electronic or printed format.
Contractor	To provide information on the cost, lead time, and manual associated with the new bus shelter design.	Highly structured	Electronic or printed format in the form of a friendly user-manual.
Newspaper reporter	To communicate to the general public on the development of the proposal for a new bus shelter design to attract potential bidders.	Semi-structured and simple language, short sentences, and in paragraphs	Electronic or printed format.

Exercise 3:  Task and Audience Analysis

Compare these two tasks in terms of intended audience and purpose. 

	End of term Course Evaluation	a Ratemyprofessor.com   entry
Purpose	To improve the delivery of courses in the future, provide a forum for learners to provide feedback to academic administrators on current performance; and provide information to future students about a specific course and instructor.	To evaluate an instructor or a teacher’s performance after taking course.
Audience	Learners	Learners
Author	Academic administrators	Department heads or academic administrators
What details would you include?  What info would your audience expect?	The purpose of the evaluation, helpful activities during the course, feedback and instructor engagement, contribution of course to learners collaborative skills.	Questionnaire about instructor performance.