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Research problem: Cultural differences may be increasingly important in technical communication. Research is needed to investigate differences in document design practices and user preferences. This study examines cultural differences between Chinese and Western manuals for household appliances. Literature review: Earlier studies identified a wide range of possible differences between Chinese and Western documents, but the findings are not consistent and do not provide more generic perspectives on cultural differences. Possible reasons are the diversity of the documents used, the rather informal research designs, and relatively small sample sizes. Research question: To what extent and how do Chinese and Western manuals for household appliances differ from each other in terms of content, structure, and use of visuals? Methodology: To overcome these shortcomings, a quantitative content analysis was conducted, comparing 50 Chinese manuals and 50 Western manuals for household appliances. The coding scheme was based on earlier research findings and focused on content, structure, and the use of visuals. Results and conclusions: The results show that the content of Chinese manuals is less strictly confined to the function of user support than that of Western manuals. Compared to Western manuals, the structure of Chinese manuals appears to be fuzzier and less rigid. Regarding visuals, Chinese manuals contain more non-instrumental, entertaining illustrations than Western manuals. Underlying these differences is a more general distinction between highly instrumental Western manuals and more flexible Chinese manuals. These differences seem to point to two cultural dimensions: holistic versus analytic thinking and analog versus digital cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Tested versions of a manual intended to increase usability and motivation • Found no statistically significant differences for user satisfaction or self-reported motivation • Found that users of the experimental versions performed more tasks correctly [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research shows that Western and Chinese user instructions use visuals differently. Two basic tendencies may be discerned: Chinese manuals place more emphasis on visuals and their selection of visuals is less strictly confined to usability related functionality. This study investigates whether such cultural differences correspond to user preferences. Three hypotheses were tested: (a) Chinese users value pictures more than Western users; (b) Chinese users appreciate diverting, cartoon-like pictures more than Western users; and (c) Western users appreciate strictly instrumental pictures more than Chinese users. To test these hypotheses, a quasi-experiment (N = 158) was conducted with cultural background as independent variable and appreciation for pictures as dependent variable. All participants rated 15 pictures, which were presented in the context of user instructions. All three hypotheses were confirmed. Cultural differences regarding the use of visuals should therefore be taken into account when localizing Western manuals for the Chinese market, or vice versa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The market for (paid-for) commercial software manuals is flourishing, while (free) official manuals are often assumed to be neglected by users. To investigate differences in user perceptions of commercial and official manuals, we conducted two studies: one focusing on user expectations and one on user experiences. Method: The first study was an online experiment, in which two groups of participants answered questions about their expectations of a (commercial or official) manual. The second study was a 2x2 experiment, with perceived source (commercial or official) and the actual content of the instructions (commercial or official) as independent variables, and task performance and users' judgments as dependent variables. Results: The first study showed that users have different expectations of commercial and official manuals, and overall think more positively about a commercial manual. The second study showed that perceived source had a significant effect on task performance: Participants worked better when they thought they used a commercial manual. No differences were found regarding participants' judgments of the manual. Conclusion: Our research indicates a potential image problem of official user manuals. Even though we found no evidence for a lower quality of the official manual's content, users' relatively negative expectations of an official manual may discourage them from using the official user instructions. The second study showed that the perceived source (commercial/official) may even affect the actual task performance of users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Research shows that Western and Chinese technical communicators structure their documents in different ways. The research reported in this article is a first attempt to systematically explore the effects cultural adaptations of user instructions have on users. Specifically, we investigate whether Western (from Europe and North America) and Chinese (from the People's Republic of China) users would benefit from a document structure that is theoretically assumed to reflect their cultural preferences. Method: Using the SDLT rados Studio 2014 translation software package, a 2x2 experiment (N=80) was conducted with manual structure (Western versus Chinese) and cultural background (Western versus Chinese) as independent variables. The Chinese and Western manual structures were based on the literature on cultural differences between Western and Chinese technical communication. Dependent variables were task performance, knowledge, and appreciation of the software and the user instructions. Results: Contrary to our expectations, no significant differences were found between the conditions. Both Western and Chinese participants performed equally well and were equally appreciative when using the Western and Chinese manual structure. Conclusion: The results of our study raise questions about the validity and/or the relevance of the current insights regarding cultural differences in the structures of user instructions. Cultural differences found in content analytic research may reflect the habits of technical communicators rather than the preferences of users. However, caution is needed in interpreting our findings, as our research experiences also raised a number of methodological issues that must be addressed in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]