I am conducting a research study on the Usability of the Canon 40d instructional manual for first time DSLR users.
I would appreciate a few minutes of your time to complete my short survey. The survey consists of 8 questions (1 optional), and is completely anonymous.
While completing it, please consider things that you may have had trouble with upon buying your 40d such as enabling the 3200 ISO expansion/live-view, and usage of the custom functions.
the data will be used for my school project. details are at the top of the survey page. it is a course in technical communication, and we were asked to research the usability of a webpage or manual.
i was thinking of doing the 580 EX manual instead, however i wasn't sure if i would get enough participants. let me know if there are any other questions!
Most users don't bother to read the manual and many that do, suffer from poor reading comprehension. Modern man is not as verbally skilled as in decades past. Even a great manual can't overcome these basic realities. Maybe a comic book format would be more effective for modern users.
OK, just took the survey, its pretty innocent, so no need to be paranoid.
Coming from an older camera, I use the manual quite a bit during these first few days of ownership of my new 40D. With the 5D (I also have) I picked it up very quickly and don't recall using the manual as much as I have on the 40D. There is so much new on this camera like live view, sensor cleaning, auto ISO, custom functions, and so on. It is much more customizable and therefore I need to use the manual much more than the 5d or 20D before it.
Yes, Gochugogi if you didn't goto school... I find the manual easy to read and I'm 18 and would have found it easy to read at the age of 13. Not sure who wouldn't be able to read such a simple thing as a manual.
p.1 #12 · My Canon 40d Instructional Manual Survey
graemeak wrote:
Yes, Gochugogi if you didn't goto school... I find the manual easy to read and I'm 18 and would have found it easy to read at the age of 13. Not sure who wouldn't be able to read such a simple thing as a manual.
I wasn't trying to insult you but, as a college professor, I'm speaking from daily experience. A shockingly high percentage of young Americans can't read at HS level. In other words they can't effectively read a newspaper, a college text or an EOS manual. According to our English placements tests, 75% of incoming freshmen have a reading deficiency and thus are placed in rudimental English courses.
Obviously you and your friends are the cream of the crop--sorta a throwback to the verbal era.
