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ERIC Number: ED212763
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1981
Pages: 49
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The Format and Content of Written Business Communications. Research Results and Sample Curriculum Materials. The Basic Vocabulary of Written Business Communications.
Ober, Scot
In order to determine the word frequency of written business vocabulary, 5,000 letters were sent to a nationwide random sample of members of the National Secretaries Association, asking them to submit copies of up to three pieces of written business communications (letters, memoranda, and reports) typed recently in their offices. A total of 1,411 respondents submitted 2,504 usable documents for the analysis, a response rate of 33 percent. The most frequently represented industry was manufacturing, and the the least frequently represented industry was business and repair services. Chi-square analysis revealed no significant differences between the sample and the population of industries stratified by the percentages of typists, secretaries, and other clerical workers employed in each industry. Slightly more than half of the documents submitted were letters. The 2,504 documents analyzed contained 606,496 total words and 15,522 different words. The 10 most frequently occurring words accounted for one-half of all word occurrences. (This report contains lists of the 500 most frequently occurring words in written business communications by rank and by alphabetical order, lists of 100 most frequently used words by industry, lists of sexist words, and sample uses of the words in typing and shorthand lessons.) (KC)
Publication Type: Reference Materials - Vocabularies/Classifications; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Arizona State Dept. of Education, Phoenix.
Authoring Institution: Arizona State Univ., Tempe.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A