Asking Better Questions: 3 Decision Points

Jeff Cobb says

Celisa – Thanks very much for this addition. It seems more important than ever to recognize the way we all modulate between teacher and learner roles in asking questions. I think an important aspect of social learning – particularly as it occurs out on the Web – is that we very often don’t know “for whom” when we consider asking a question. It’s perhaps this nuance that makes me a little reluctant to agree with Fiona’s assertion that ““Bad questions can be worse than no questions at all.”

I’m not so much opposed to the idea that some questions are qualitatively better than others (i.e., some doing a better job of answering Fiona’s qualifiers than others). But that begs the question – as you suggest – better for what, and for whom? In very tightly defined situations we may be able to assume we know the answer to these questions, but at the same time, we may kill off questions that could lead to new and productive lines of thinking – not to mention creativity and innovation.

I probably just chafe a bit at anything that implies that some questions simply should not be asked. Maybe – perhaps we need to throw out that old saw “There is no such thing as a stupid question” – and yet I don’t have to do more than pick up a newspaper (okay, pick up my iPad) to see that so much of what is going in the world is being driven by assumptions, biases, and unquestioned beliefs (and much of what is positive is driven by the fact that people are asking questions). If and when I see that change significantly, I may start thinking that there is such an animal as a bad question. For the time being, I still be satisfied just to see more questions of any type asked.

Jeff

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