The New Users studies were a sequence of three studies that tested the efficacy of technical user handbooks for students unfamiliar with World Wide Web browsers. The Netscape for New Users for Mac, Netscape for New Users for PC, and Internet Explorer for New Users provided technical manual writers with recommendations for design of such manuals for student populations.
Study participants were UNL Teachers College students who participated in research as a requirement for an educational psychology course. Administration of the study involved testing two different versions of the documents. The first group of students provided feedback on the manuals. The feedback was coded and implemented into a new version of the manual. A new group of students then tested the second version. Comments were coded and interpreted. The information was forwarded to designers who were revising the manuals to be included with actual courses.