A Preliminary Examination of the Readability of Consumer Pharmaceutical Web Pages

This paper examines the readability level of online consumer pharmaceutical web pages using standard readability indexes. Pages from sixteen online consumer pharmaceutical websites were downloaded and analyzed using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level and Reading Ease, Coleman-Liau, Gunning Fog and SMOG...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of marketing development and competitiveness 2010-11, Vol.5 (1), p.33
Main Authors: Kunz, Michelle B, Osborne, Peggy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult literacy
Adults
Alternative medicine
Consumers
Health education
Health literacy
Internet
Older people
Pharmaceutical industry
Readability
Reading comprehension
Studies
User generated content
Websites
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Summary:This paper examines the readability level of online consumer pharmaceutical web pages using standard readability indexes. Pages from sixteen online consumer pharmaceutical websites were downloaded and analyzed using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level and Reading Ease, Coleman-Liau, Gunning Fog and SMOG readability indexes. Results indicate the majority of web pages are written at a level above the average reading level of U.S. consumers. Most online pages were written at high school graduate or collegiate level. Differences were found in the readability level, based upon the type of material posted on the web page. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:2155-2843
2155-2843