Effective Communication: Principles for Any Context
Published by When Notes Fly
https://whennotesfly.com/concepts/communication/how-to-communicate-clearly
When Notes Fly article, fact-checked and corrected.
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Correction
Correction history
Every accepted correction to this page is recorded with the exact change, so readers can see how the page improved over time.
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Corrected seven aviation/medical/readability claims: removed an unverifiable 2004 Boeing 737 LAX anecdote and an unsourced '27% fewer errors' CRM statistic; qualified an overstated NTSB causal attribution for the fall in aviation fatalities; corrected Helmreich and Foushee from designers of United's 1981 CRM program to later CRM researchers; re-dated and re-scoped the Pronovost checklist result to the 2006 Michigan Keystone multicomponent project (removing isolated 66% / 1,500-lives / $175M figures); fixed a heading that mis-attributed George Klare's readability work to the University of Wisconsin (he was at Ohio University); and corrected the Boomerang email study (sample size, non-peer-reviewed status, relative-vs-absolute 53%, and removed an unsupported 'controlled for' claim).
BeforeThe article stated a 2004 Boeing 737 LAX emergency landing, a 1995 study showing CRM crews made 27% fewer errors, an NTSB attribution of falling aviation fatalities to CRM, that Helmreich and Foushee designed United's 1981 program, a 2009 Pronovost surgical checklist study saving 1,500 lives and $175M across 103 hospitals, that Klare's research was at the University of Wisconsin, and a Boomerang 2016 study of 5.3 million emails with grade 3-5 emails getting responses 53% more often, controlling for familiarity and length.
AfterRemoved or generalized the unverifiable anecdote and unsourced statistics; qualified overstated single-cause attributions; corrected attributions and affiliations to what the primary record supports (Michigan Keystone 2006 multicomponent central-line project; Klare at Ohio University; Boomerang as a non-peer-reviewed company blog analysis reporting a relative response-rate difference).
Why: Several claims carried precise figures with no locatable primary source or mis-stated the source's design and scope. Policy is to remove invented specifics, qualify single-cause claims, and correct attributions rather than substitute new unverified sources.
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Full contribution timeline
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Correction 28 July 2026
Emir Baycan: Corrected seven aviation/medical/readability claims: removed an unverifiable 2004 Boeing 737 LAX anecdote and an unsourced '27% fewer errors' CRM statistic; qualified an overstated NTSB causal attribution for the fall in aviation fatalities; corrected Helmreich and Foushee from designers of United's 1981 CRM program to later CRM researchers; re-dated and re-scoped the Pronovost checklist result to the 2006 Michigan Keystone multicomponent project (removing isolated 66% / 1,500-lives / $175M figures); fixed a heading that mis-attributed George Klare's readability work to the University of Wisconsin (he was at Ohio University); and corrected the Boomerang email study (sample size, non-peer-reviewed status, relative-vs-absolute 53%, and removed an unsupported 'controlled for' claim).
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