To determine whether scientists and science students would accept a simplified writing style, two studies were conducted. In the first study, respondents--1,089 scientists from agricultural experiment stations, 20 station editors, and 59 editors of scientific journals--answered a questionnaire requesting biographical information and reactions to a simplified writing style and a difficult writing style, typical of that found in scientific journals. The subjects were asked these questions: (1) Which style do you prefer? (2) Which style is more appropriate? and, (3) Which author appears more competent? Most of the respondents preferred the simplified style, but many indicated that they had greater respect for the writer of the more complicated passage. In the second study, 196 students completed a briefer form of the same questionnaire; most of them also preferred the simplified style. Some of them perceived their communication teachers as suggesting a less complex style than that suggested by their engineering/science teachers. The majority expected to use simplified style in the future. Techniques for further research on these questions are suggested. In conclusion, the two challenges for technical writing teachers or technical editors are that they should try to convince students and scientists to value a simplified style of technical writing and that they must be sympathetic to factors other than readability that influence readers' evaluations of an author's credibility and esteem. (Tables of findings accompany the text.) (EL)