Effective Communication: Principles for Any Context

What has been corrected on this page?

Every accepted correction to this page is recorded with the exact change, so readers can see how the page improved over time.

1. 28 July 2026 · corrected by Emir Baycan

   Corrected two additional overstated causal/absolute claims found on a later pass: reframed 'Redish's work contributed directly to the Plain Writing Act of 2010' to note it was part of a broader decades-long plain-language advocacy movement rather than a single study directly causing federal legislation; and softened Klare's readability-research description ('every major readability formula,' 'consistent across reader ability levels') to note the benefit varies in size while the general pattern held, and that the findings influenced (rather than are embedded in every) widely used formulas.

   What the page claimed

   The article said Redish's single study directly caused the Plain Writing Act of 2010, and stated the sentence-length effect was consistent across all reader levels and embedded in every major readability formula.

   What was corrected

   Qualified the causal claim about legislation and softened the absolute 'every' and 'consistent' framing to what Klare's meta-analysis actually supports.

   Why: A single study rarely causes federal legislation directly, and 'every' and 'consistent across all levels' overstate typical research findings. Corrections add appropriate scope rather than adding new sources.

   View the full record →
2. 28 July 2026 · corrected by Emir Baycan

   Corrected seven aviation/medical/readability claims: removed an unverifiable 2004 Boeing 737 LAX anecdote and an unsourced '27% fewer errors' CRM statistic; qualified an overstated NTSB causal attribution for the fall in aviation fatalities; corrected Helmreich and Foushee from designers of United's 1981 CRM program to later CRM researchers; re-dated and re-scoped the Pronovost checklist result to the 2006 Michigan Keystone multicomponent project (removing isolated 66% / 1,500-lives / $175M figures); fixed a heading that mis-attributed George Klare's readability work to the University of Wisconsin (he was at Ohio University); and corrected the Boomerang email study (sample size, non-peer-reviewed status, relative-vs-absolute 53%, and removed an unsupported 'controlled for' claim).

   What the page claimed

   The article stated a 2004 Boeing 737 LAX emergency landing, a 1995 study showing CRM crews made 27% fewer errors, an NTSB attribution of falling aviation fatalities to CRM, that Helmreich and Foushee designed United's 1981 program, a 2009 Pronovost surgical checklist study saving 1,500 lives and $175M across 103 hospitals, that Klare's research was at the University of Wisconsin, and a Boomerang 2016 study of 5.3 million emails with grade 3-5 emails getting responses 53% more often, controlling for familiarity and length.

   What was corrected

   Removed or generalized the unverifiable anecdote and unsourced statistics; qualified overstated single-cause attributions; corrected attributions and affiliations to what the primary record supports (Michigan Keystone 2006 multicomponent central-line project; Klare at Ohio University; Boomerang as a non-peer-reviewed company blog analysis reporting a relative response-rate difference).

   Why: Several claims carried precise figures with no locatable primary source or mis-stated the source's design and scope. Policy is to remove unverified specifics, qualify single-cause claims, and correct attributions rather than substitute new unverified sources.

   View the full record →

Who checked this page?

1 contributor has checked "Effective Communication: Principles for Any Context" on When Notes Fly. Each name below links to that person's public CitePep profile, where every contribution they have made is listed with the exact change they proposed.