The purpose of chapter 3 is to make consumers of ReportWriter aware of the conceptual and empirical basis for the use of the Question-and-Answer format and the rationale for developing a computer package. Three questions are addressed in this chapter:
1. What is the conceptual basis of ReportWriter?
2. What is the empirical basis of ReportWriter?
3. How does a computerized report writer facilitate the production of psychoeducational reports?
1. What is the conceptual basis of ReportWriter?
The conceptual basis of ReportWriter is Armbruster and Anderson's (1984, 1985) theory of considerate text. As applied to psychoeducational reports, considerate text involves three major attributes. First, the content of the report should be consistent with the reader's existing knowledge. When regular classroom teachers, principals, parents, clients and family doctors are readers, this means that technical terms or jargon should be explained, examples of concepts given, and in some cases handouts provided to give more information about a recommendation.
The second attribute of reports written in considerate text is a structure that is consistent with the schema of the reader. As suggested by Wiener (1987), a Goal (reason for referral) / Problem (description of child functioning) / Action (recommendations) frame may correspond to the schema of most readers. Further, the evidence from Wiener's studies and a study done by Bagnato (1980) indicated that a structure involving organization by functional domain (e.g., overall ability, reading, written language, social and emotional functioning) rather than assessment process (observations, test results, parent interview) is comprehended best by parents, teachers and principals. When reports are organized by functional domain, the writer synthesizes the information. Organization by process requires the reader to do the synthesis, a task that may be more difficult for less experienced report readers.
The third attribute of considerate text identified by Armbruster and Anderson (1984, 1985) is coherence. Making the underlying structure of expository text salient is an important means of increasing coherence. With regard to the three formats of psychological reports compared in Wiener's studies, the salience of the structure is highest in the Question-and-Answer report. The referral questions section is similar to an introductory paragraph in most expository text in that it provides an overview of the organization of the report and the specific content that will be addressed. Headings and subheadings follow the organization articulated in this referral question section. To enhance the information flow, ancillary information that is helpful to the reader with less background knowledge is given in handouts, and quantitative information (e.g., test scores) is presented in tables.
2. What is the empirical basis of ReportWriter?
ReportWriter is based on the findings from five studies carried out by Wiener (1985), Wiener and Kohler (1986), Wiener (1987), and one study carried out by Hodson (1998). These studies investigated the type of psychological report that is best understood and most preferred by parents, teachers and principals. (It is important to note that the six studies did not evaluate ReportWriter per se.) As the details of methodology and results of the six studies are reported in the papers cited above, only the conclusions from the studies are summarized here.
There are two major conclusions that are relevant to the development of ReportWriter. First, parents, regular classroom teachers and principals have almost the same pattern of comprehension and preference for format of psychological reports. Some minor differences, however, were found between the groups. Parents' comprehension was positively correlated with educational level - those who attended college or who had a university degree obtained higher comprehension scores than those with only a high school diploma (Wiener & Kohler, 1986). Secondary teachers'comprehension, but not elementary, was correlated positively with their age and experience (Wiener, 1987). It is important to note that the comprehension patterns of regular classroom teachers, principals and parents do not apply to qualified or experienced special education teachers and psychologists who, possibly due to familiarity with psychological reports, comprehend most formats of reports equally well. Our studies suggest, however, that they prefer to read the same reports as regular classroom teachers, principals and parents (Wiener, 1987). The fact that regular classroom teachers, parents and principals have the same comprehension and preference patterns is important in that psychologists need not spend time writing different reports for different readers.
The second conclusion from the research pertains to the format of report that was comprehended best and preferred by parents, regular classroom teachers and principals. Three formats of report were compared in these studies. While format of report was varied, the content was not. It was found that the two formats of report that were comprehended best had information grouped by functional domain (e.g., overall ability, reading achievement, learning style) instead of assessment process (e.g., observations, test results, conclusions, recommendations). In the reports that were comprehended best, both the diagnostic information and recommendations were reported in elaborated form. The elaboration consisted of behavioural observations, examples of errors, descriptions of how the child learns, descriptions of recommended approaches, and listings of suggested materials. The report format that was not comprehended as well as the other two was shorter in length and did not contain the elaboration of the other two formats.
In general, readers indicated that they preferred to read the reports they comprehended best. The format with the highest comprehension score and preference rating was the Question-and-Answer format in which the reasons for referral were listed as questions (e.g., What is Client's name's overall, level of ability? At what level is Client's name achieving in reading, writing, language, and mathematics? To what extent are Client's name's learning problems a result of social and emotional difficulties? What is an appropriate placement and program for Client's name?) The questions then became headings and were addressed in the body of the report. As a result of these research findings, the Question-and-Answer format is used in ReportWriter.
3. How does a computerized report writer facilitate the production of psychoeducational reports?
The goal of ReportWriter is to assist psychologists, psychological associates, and psychometrists to produce psychoeducational assessment reports that are comprehended by readers such as parents, teachers and principals. A computerized report writer serves two important functions: First, it facilitates consistent production of reports that are written in a manner that research suggests leads to better comprehension. Second, it is likely to decrease the amount of time required to produce these reports. The preliminary results of a consumer study, show that ReportWriter facilitates the efficient production of comprehensible reports.