Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Dec 2018

Analyzing Error Perception and Recognition Among Professional Communication Practitioners and Academics

Ryan K. Boettger University of North Texas ; Lindsay Emory Moore

Abstract

We investigated the perception and recognition of errors in a population of practitioners and academics in professional and technical communication. Specifically, we measured 303 participants’ botheration levels of 24 usage errors and then correlated those results against their ability to recognize the errors. Results indicated that practitioners were often more bothered by errors than academics and that participants’ overall botheration level might have fluctuated over the past 40 years. Participants’ botheration level also appeared to associate with their ability to identify error. Finally, we found that participants’ gender, job type, and years working in the field influence their error perception.

Journal
Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
Published
2018-12-01
DOI
10.1177/2329490618803740
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
technical communication professional writing grammar and mechanics gender and writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (6)

  1. Smith et al. (2025)
    Introducing TrackEDT: A Tool to Accelerate Empirical Editing Research
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  2. Baker et al. (2025)
    Business Communication and Editing Students’ Evaluations of Written Error: An E…
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  3. McDonough et al. (2021)
    Instructor Evaluation of Business Student Writing: Does Language Play a Role?
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  4. Randazzo (2020)
    A Framework for Résumé Decisions: Comparing Applicants’ and Employers’ Reasons
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  5. Gubala et al. (2020)
    Do Writing Errors Bother Professionals? An Analysis of the Most Bothersome Erro…
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  1. Luijkx et al. (2020)
    The Effect of Dutch Student Errors in German Business Letters on German Professionals
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