THE RESEARCH BRIEF

The Topic Area

The dissertation will focus on, as the title says, "Communicating to Illiterate Populations." Simply put, it is an examination of the problem of how to successfully communicate a message to someone who does not read and write.

It is important to point out that the term "illiterate" is not used by many in the field of literacy, as it is often used to describe a large group within which various literacy skill levels exist. However, for the purposes of this dissertation, the term will be used to describe those to whom it would be applied to by people outside the field of literacy. The 1995 International Adult Literacy Survey of seven countries used a scale of one to five. For the purposes of this dissertation, the first two levels of that scale will be termed "illiterate." These two levels are typified by people who have "serious difficulty dealing with printed materials" and those who "can deal only with material that is simple and clearly laid out" (Highlights, 1995).

Market research drives most communication efforts. Few professional communicators work in ignorance of the characteristics of their target markets. However, research indicates that consideration is rarely given to communicating to illiterate portions of populations, despite the results of the 1994 International Adult Literacy Survey of 7 countries, which confirmed earlier studies in finding that about 30% of the population of industrialised countries is illiterate.

Generally, communications efforts are conducted with an assumption that the receiver can read and write. This is not a problem if the source is, for example, a company selling airplanes, as someone in the market for a new airplane almost certainly can read and write, or is highly adapted to his or her state of having low literacy skills. This dissertation will examine a case in which it is important to reach all members of a public, which includes a significant percentage that can be classified illiterate. The case is the breast cancer screening program undertaken by the Department of Health and Community Services in the Canadian province of New Brunswick.