Quantitative approaches to stylistic analysis sometimes provide a critic with specialized tools to assess the tactical and strategic goals of a writer and to support claims about the ethical intention of certain kinds--or even specific instances--of writing.  For instance, quantitative analysis can provide concrete, cognitive evidence to back up intuitive claims that a text is obscure, overly dense, or deliberately obfuscatory--or, in the case of much bureaucratic prose, merely vapid or otiose.  If you find this approach interesting, I will be glad to provide additional information and some other quantitative tools for you to explore.

Recent versions of WORD handily calculate these index numbers for your own texts if you configure the software to do so.  To set the software for readability reports, follow this chain of options from the main toolbar:  Tools --> Options --> Spelling & Grammar.  In the dialogue box, check "Show readability statistics."

In the formulae below, ASL = "average sentence length" (the number of words divided by the number of sentences), and ASW = "average number of syllables per word" (the number of syllables divided by the number of words).  Remember that any inductive conclusion is stronger in direct relation to the number of instances it is based upon, so any single sample is unpersuasive.
 

Flesch Reading Ease score

This index number rates text on a 100-point scale: the higher the score, the easier it is to understand the document. MicroSoft (as part of the WORD "help" package) recommends that, for most standard documents, writers should aim for a score of approximately 60 to 70.  If you test a range of texts, you will be shocked to find the low opinion that such a score implies about "standard documents" and their readers.  The formula for the Flesch Reading Ease score is:

206.835 – (1.015 x ASL) – (84.6 x ASW)

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score

This index number rates text on a U.S. grade-school level. For example, a score of 8.0 means that an eighth grader can understand the document. For most standard documents, aim for a score of approximately 7.0 to 8.0.

The formula for the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score is:

(.39 x ASL) + (11.8 x ASW) – 15.59