ACQ Vol 10 No 3 2008

INTERVENTION: WHY DOES IT WORK AND HOW DO WE KNOW?

“Good try, now let’s try it again!” This violates the pragmatics of working with an expert. If your research project needs an information statement, my advice would be to do it first. Complete a quick draft in plain language, maybe write it for an uninformed relative who left school young. Then put the draft away and write the research protocol. Come back to the information statement at the end. Hopefully, you will slip back into plain language – Anglo-Saxon words instead of Latin ones, simple phrases to describe multisyllabic words, brief descriptions of medical terms. Imagine telling your relatives about your research project. Watch the faces of your aunt and uncle – smart, successful people who didn’t go past year 8 at school. Your aunt might say “What does that actually mean, dear?” Here, they are acting like plain language advisors. They may also need to advise you on how your information statement might make them understand what a good thing it is that you are doing. And then go and ask the plain language advisor to look at it. Correspondence to: John Fisher

Plain Language Advisor Ethics and Research Office Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne phone: 03 9345 5044

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ACQ uiring knowledge in speech , language and hearing , Volume 10, Number 3 2008