Determining Significant Factors Affecting Reader’s Perception of Writing Technique and Style: Views of Professional Writing Evaluators

Abstract

The evaluation of various writing styles continues to be of paramount importance in multiple venues. This research identified the most significant factors that affect the reader’s perception of writing style in a business letter utilizing factorial statistical design of experiments (DOE). Based on these factors, several areas of teaching emphasis emerge as the most important issues in teaching and alternately in submitting any business letter or report. Using reader imaging, additional factors can be equally considered in the analysis of the quality of the business students’ work. Extensions and limitations of the research are also discussed.