Publications

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Previous studies in the nuclear weapons complex have shown that ambiguous work instructions (WIs) and operating procedures (OPs) can lead to human error, which is a major cause for concern. This report outlines some of the sources of ambiguity in written English and describes three recommendations for reducing ambiguity in WIs and OPs. The recommendations are based on commonly used research techniques in the fields of linguistics and cognitive psychology. The first recommendation is to gather empirical data that can be used to improve the recommended word lists that are provided to technical writers. The second recommendation is to have a review in which new WIs and OPs and checked for ambiguities and clarity. The third recommendation is to use self-paced reading time studies to identify any remaining ambiguities before the new WIs and OPs are put into use. If these three steps are followed for new WIs and OPs, the likelihood of human errors related to ambiguity could be greatly reduced.

This report describes the results of a small experimental study that investigated potential sources of ambiguity in written work instructions (WIs). The English language can be highly ambiguous because words with different meanings can share the same spelling. Previous studies in the nuclear weapons complex have shown that ambiguous WIs can lead to human error, which is a major cause for concern. To study possible sources of ambiguity in WIs, we determined which of the recommended action verbs in the DOE and BWXT writer's manuals have numerous meanings to their intended audience, making them potentially ambiguous. We used cognitive psychology techniques to conduct a survey in which technicians who use WIs in their jobs indicated the first meaning that came to mind for each of the words. Although the findings of this study are limited by the small number of respondents, we identified words that had many different meanings even within this limited sample. WI writers should pay particular attention to these words and to their most frequent meanings so that they can avoid ambiguity in their writing.

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