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What is the preferred learning style for technical authors?
The preferred learning style for my subjects was rigorous mixed with dynamic.
Are author's writing styles biased by their learning style?
The informal analysis of the samples supplied by the subjects suggests that manuals by writers with strong rigorous or dynamic preferences may be distinguished by factors such as length or complexity of sentences.
Can guidelines for writing technical documentation be derived from the learning styles model?
The different learning styles can be usefully characterised so that differences in learners' preferences are brought out. Translating the preferences into principles for writers is, however, as difficult as for other prescriptive systems. The principles reported in the dissertation need to be applied by discriminating writers. Applying the principles is slightly easier when used in a hypermedia system, where users can filter out features they don't want. Features can therefore be provided using the base style guidelines (designed to be attractive to a particular learning style), rather than the principles intended for a composite readership, which need only be used for the common parts of the system.
What practical benefits arise from the project?
Knowing her own learning style and its conflicts with other learning styles is likely to improve an author's sympathy with her readers, and perhaps make her more aware of the likely response to different ways of presenting information. Use of the principles derived from the study of learning style preferences may make manuals more effective at information transfer than current schemes. Use of the base style guidelines in hypermedia systems is untested but ought to show a similar improvement
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