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OFFERING TOO MUCH CHOICE MAY OVERWHELM READERS

June 20, 2010 by RDesprez Leave a Comment

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When you write pro­ce­dures, do you offer your read­ers more than one way to com­plete a task? Some writ­ers go to pains to explain one pro­ce­dure and then offer alter­na­tives. For example:

1. Click the Select button.
OR
From the Options menu, click Select.
OR
From the Actions sec­tion, click Select.

This approach is pret­ty com­mon and is con­sis­tent with the North Amer­i­can belief that choice is empow­er­ing and pro­vides greater satisfaction.

Author Bar­ry Schwartz dis­agrees. In his book the Para­dox of Choice, he con­tends that too much choice can make deci­sion-mak­ing a chal­lenge. In the long-term, he argues that this leads to deci­sion-mak­ing paral­y­sis, anx­i­ety, and stress. He even sug­gests that too many choic­es in one’s life can lead to clin­i­cal depression.

In just one exam­ple in the book, Schwartz doc­u­ments the bewil­der­ing options that he faced when vis­it­ing his local supermarket:

  • Eighty vari­eties of pain relievers
  • One hun­dred and six­teen types of skin cream
  • Three hun­dred and six­ty types of con­di­tion­ers, sham­poos, gels, and mousse.
  • Nine­ty types of cold reme­dies and decongestants
  • Nine­ty-five snack options
  • Six­ty-five box drinks
  • And so on…

Schwartz points out that sev­er­al stud­ies have con­clud­ed that peo­ple are less sat­is­fied when faced with a large array of choic­es. Few­er options may actu­al­ly make one’s life easier.

In keep­ing with this research, as tech­ni­cal writ­ers, per­haps we should also stream­line the num­ber of choic­es we offer our users. It makes our lives eas­i­er and our read­ers could very well pre­fer the sim­pler, more stream­lined approach.

Filed Under: Online Writing, Robert Desprez | Vancouver technical writer | Blog, Technology Tagged With: deluge of information, technical writing, too much choice

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About Robert Desprez

I have worked as a Vancouver technical writer for more than 20 years, working at some of British Columbia's largest high-tech firms. I have served in leadership positions for the Society for Technical Communication and have worked as a writing instructor at Vancouver's Simon Fraser University.

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Robert Desprez I have worked as a Vancouver technical writer for more than 20 years, working at Kodak, Boeing, Teck Resources, and FortisBC. In addition, I have worked as a writing instructor at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.

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