readibility results between word for mac and word for pc

[tristy]

If you type the same paragraph in both words and run the spelling and
grammer check and get the readability results, the pc will show for a
grade 2 reader and the mac will show for grade one or less. Does anyone
know the reason for this????

 

[JE McGimpsey]

If you type the same paragraph in both words and run the spelling and
grammer check and get the readability results, the pc will show for a
grade 2 reader and the mac will show for grade one or less. Does anyone
know the reason for this????

Mac users are able to read better?

==================================

Actually, I think it's a function of WinWord's innumeracy.

NOTE: You don't say which versions you're comparing, so the results you
get may be different than mine. I checked WinWord 2003 and MacWord 2004
against calculated values.

I checked a paragraph that was reported as containing 71 words, 301
characters, 1 paragraph, and 4 sentences in each version.

The Averages showed:
Calculated Word03 Word04
Sentences per Paragraph 4.0 4.0 4.0
Words per sentence 17.75 17.7 17.8
Characters per word 4.24 4.1 4.2

As you can see, WinWord03 can't do basic math. Words per sentence is
arguable, but would in that case use a different method than it's own
field calculation/display engine, XL, and VBA. Characters per word is
simply wrong.

I suspect that WinWord and MacWord calculate syllables per word
differently, too. The two factors are inputs to the Flesch-Kincaid Grade
Level, so it's hardly surprising that the results of the two versions
are different on a small sample.

 

[Tim Murray]

The Averages showed:

Calculated Word03 Word04
Sentences per Paragraph 4.0 4.0 4.0
Words per sentence 17.75 17.7 17.8
Characters per word 4.24 4.1 4.2

I wonder if they're using simple averages; maybe they're weighted. A sentence
like "a cat is in a someridiculouslylongwordhere" (37 char, 6 words) would
average about 6.2 characters per word, but less if weighted.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I wonder if they're using simple averages;

They're not - though they nowhere mention it.

maybe they're weighted. A sentence like "a cat is in a
someridiculouslylongwordhere" (37 char, 6 words) would average about
6.2 characters per word, but less if weighted.

Yup. Dunno how Word's really working it, but it's obvious that the
counting engines differ between versions.

I suspect that long blocks of text would be more consistent, but I
haven't tested that.

 

[tristy]

I have word 2004 and word 2002...this is the sentence that is being
tested.

How old is ice cream? Who made it first? No one knows for sure. Long
ago, people put honey on snow. Kings ate it on hot days. Where did they
get snow? Snow came from the mountains. (It stays cold up there.)
Who eats the most ice cream? Americans do. We love it!
It has been a big thing here for a long time. Jacob Fusel sold milk.
Then he built the first ice cream factory. That was 1851.
However, what is ice cream without a cone? The first cone showed up in
1896. Where? You guessed it. The place was the U.S.A.

pc results
Counts
Words 103
Characters 408
Paragraphs 4
Sentences 20

Averages
Sentences per paragraph 5.0
Words per sentence 5.1
Characters per word 3.7

Readability
Passive Sentences 0%
Flesch Reading Ease 84.1
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 2.8

mac results

Counts
Words 103
Characters 408
Paragraphs 4
Sentences 20

Averages
Sentences per paragraph 5.0
Words per sentence 5.2
Characters per word 3.7

Readability
Passive Sentences 0%
Flesch Reading Ease 100%
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 0.3

Thanks for your input

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I have word 2004 and word 2002...this is the sentence that is being
tested.

How old is ice cream? Who made it first? No one knows for sure. Long
ago, people put honey on snow. Kings ate it on hot days. Where did they
get snow? Snow came from the mountains. (It stays cold up there.)
Who eats the most ice cream? Americans do. We love it!
It has been a big thing here for a long time. Jacob Fusel sold milk.
Then he built the first ice cream factory. That was 1851.
However, what is ice cream without a cone? The first cone showed up in
1896. Where? You guessed it. The place was the U.S.A.

pc results
Flesch Reading Ease 84.1
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 2.8

mac results

Flesch Reading Ease 100%
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 0.3

OK. Again, this is a very short paragraph to try to get readability
statistics, but let's try. Per Word04 Help:

Flesch Reading Ease:

206.835 - (1.015 x ASL) - (84.6 x ASW)

Where ASL is average sentence length (# sentences/ # words), and ASW is
average number of syllables per word. Counting by hand, I get 118
syllables (YMMV), so

ASL = 103/20 ==> 5.15
ASW = 118/102 ==> 1.146

and Flesch Reading ease:

206.835 (1.015 x ASL) (84.6 x ASW) ==> 104.656

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level:

(.39 x ASL) + (11.8 x ASW) - 15.59 ==> -0.059

Now, I'm not an expert, so some things, like how "U.S.A." should be
handled, can be argued - is it one word of three syllables or three
words of one syllable? - will change things slightly, but based on the
above equations, I distrust WinWord's readability statistics. There's no
way that a grade level of 2.8 can be gotten from tweaking these numbers.

MacWord's numbers seem to be pretty consistent with those found here:

http://csep.psyc.memphis.edu/cohmetrix/readabilityresearch.htm