Individuals in 14 job categories at the Analytical Instrument Division of the Hewlett-Packard Corporation were observed and interviewed for six months to determine their reading practices at work and in leisure settings. The individuals ranged from a research chemist and a printed circuit designer, to a quality assurance inspector and a mechanical…

A study was conducted to construct measures of reading competencies that are frequently needed in an occupational environment and to describe the influence of the components of reading practice on these competencies based on the conceptual framework of ethnographic psychology. The reading practices of 25 electrical engineers and 30 electronic…

Psychometric and ethnographic frameworks were used to explore the relationships among adults' uses for reading and their demonstrated competencies with related domains of tasks. Information regarding frequently occurring reading tasks was gathered from 42 adults in both work and leisure settings by means of questionnaires, interviews, and…