A Guide to Propositional Analysis for Research on Technical Prose

摘要

Recently, many researchers on prose comprehension have used propositional analysis for representing the content of prose materials. This method involves preparing a relatively formal representation of the semantic content of the material, expressed in the form of a list of propositions. This representation can then be used as a relatively rigorous characterization of the material, and so serves as a basis for evaluating and analyzing readers' performance in comprehension experiments. This report presents a set of detailed rules and examples for constructing the propositional representation of both the textual materials used in, and subjects' responses from, experiments on comprehension of technical prose. Methods for using propositional analysis to score recall protocols and compare statements made by subjects are also described. (Author)