The Place of Readability Calculators in Health-Related Texts

Abstract

This research explores what readability formulas measure and the critical factors they ignore and argues that human judgment is, in fact, a more accurate indicator of readability. Readability calculators such as the Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level and the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG)Index purport to evaluate readability of texts in an objective, scientific way. At HealthPartners, writers are frustrated that all patient-facing materials be written at a seventh-grade reading level per the Flesch-Kincaid scoring system, which we, as writers, believe actually makes text less readable. While readability calculators may provide some useful information in limited contexts, they should not be used as the sole judge of readability.There are better ways to judge the readability of texts, such as usability tests, the transformer approach,and use of the many free and easily accessible guidelines available today.