Try a search on Flight Safety Foundation - and possibly within that site, NASA studies-checklists etc. I recall a couple of good papers. Points made were:
Short. Simple. Responses to state the switch position or selection e.g. 'auto' 'on' '15 degrees' etc and NOT simply 'set' or 'checked'.
One interesting variation I used and liked had its genesis with British Airways (I think).
Whichever pilot did the check, or flow of checks, then read the checklist, and the OTHER pilot looked at the selections and made the responses. It really forced both to participate fully.