Abstract

This study introduces social question-and-answer (SQA) documentation to technical and professional communication scholarship. It conceptualizes SQA as interactive, user-generated documentation and describes contextual information types within social how-to questions that initiate documentation. It also explores whether contextual information associates with answers that complete the interactive documentation. Results reliably describe 15 information types based on content analysis of 3,529 contextual information types from 500 questions. Exploratory statistical analysis suggests that askers may increase answerability by including less speculative thought, more error messages, and less general situation information. To facilitate complete SQA documentation, the study calls for additional research into question content and answerability.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2020-07-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651920910226
Open Access
Closed
Topics

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Cites in this index (9)

  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Technical Communication Quarterly
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  1. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Technical Communication Quarterly
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