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Julie E. Howe

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Publications by Julie E. Howe (bibliography)

1995

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Howe, Julie E. and Wogalter, Michael S. (1995): On Making Legal Documents Understandable: Objective and Subjective Measures. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 39th Annual Meeting 1995. pp. 430-434.

“Citizens are often asked to sign a variety of legal documents such as contracts, monetary agreements, and consent forms, but the adequacy of how well informed average citizens become when they sign such documents is unclear. A recent survey indicated that respondents signed a variety of legal documents that they did not fully read or understand (Howe and Wogalter, 1994). Participants in that survey also identified characteristics of legal documents that hinder their understanding and offered suggestions for improving understandability. In the current study, these characteristics and suggestions were used to create two different consent forms: a conventional "legalistic" consent form and an improved consent form. These were compared with each other and with a third, one-line, consent form (a control). Understandability was assessed using an objective comprehension test and measures of participants' subjective perceptions of understandability. Consistent with the hypotheses, objective comprehension and participant's subjective understanding was significantly enhanced by the improved form relative to the conventional form. Comprehension in the control condition was significantly lower than either of the other two consent forms conditions. In addition, even though comprehension was poor with the conventional legalistic consent form, all but one person receiving that form signed it, agreeing to participate in an activity that was described as having some risk of explosion and burn injury (jump starting a dead battery with booster cables). There was also a tendency for more participants with the improved form than the conventional form to take advantage of a stated option of participating in a less risky activity (a card sorting task). The importance of understanding legal documents as well as the implications for additional work in this domain are discussed.”

1994

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Howe, Julie E. and Wogalter, Michael S. (1994): The Understandability of Legal Documents: Are They Adequate?. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 38th Annual Meeting 1994. pp. 438-442.

“Citizens are frequently asked to make commitments by signing contracts and legal documents that frequently contain phraseology and jargon (sometimes called legalese) that highly-educated citizens often do not understand. In recent years, human factors professionals have become intimately concerned with the design of product-related documentation and safety communications (e.g., warnings), and through research have offered ways to improve these materials. However, there is apparently no human factors research on the design and evaluation of legal contracts and other similar documents. The purpose of the present research was to begin to assess some of the factors related to people's reading and understanding of legal documents. Study 1 examined the types of legal documents that people sign, how often they sign them, how carefully they read them, and whether they understand them. Ninety-two individuals were asked to complete a survey addressing these issues. While it was reported that the contracts were read moderately carefully and were understood moderately well, the levels were not as high as one would expect given the importance of the documents and the education level of the participants in this study (who had, on average, approximately two years of college). Also, 96% of the sample believed that legal documents could be improved and provided specific suggestions on how this might be accomplished. In Study 2, 32 participants rated the set of potential improvements to legal documents that had been suggested by Study 1's participants. The results confirmed the first study's pattern of findings. Implications for average citizens' lack of comprehension of contracts and other legal documents are discussed with a specific focus on the role research might have on their improvement.”

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