Towards a theory of question asking

Summary An outline of a theory of question asking is presented. Explicit information questions are conceived as possible means used by a questioner to reach actual goals. The information sought by the question is fundamentally related, and even dependent upon, knowledge already available to the person. Contradictory knowledge and knowledge about which the person is not sufficiently confident are seen as special cases of missing knowledge. Experimental evidence in support of these and related postulates is presented. Intrinsic to the theory is the conception of the psychological aspects involved in the asking of a question: the perceived need to ask in relation to the concurrent goals of the person, the alternative means of inferring rather than asking, knowing whom to ask, and tolerance for not (yet) asking.An elaborated version of a paper presented to XXIIND INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF PSYCHOLOGY, Leipzig, July 6–11, 1980     

Patient question asking in physician-patient interaction

Patient question asking may be regarded as not only a method of information seeking but as a mechanism of patient participation in the medical dialogue. As such, the study of question asking behavior provides insight into the physician-patient communication process. Presented is an analysis of data gathered as part of an experimental intervention designed to increase patient question asking during routine medical visits. Audiotape recordings of two physicians in 123 medical visits were content analyzed to identify the number, content, and form of patient questions, as well as a variety of other interaction variables. These measures were then related to patient satisfaction with care. Findings indicate that the experimental intervention had significant effect on increasing the number of direct questions asked and that these were asked outside of their usual interaction pattern. Further, the relationship between question asking and satisfaction differed in the two groups. The study contributes to our understanding of physician-patient communication dynamics and the information seeking process.     

For the asking

Sexologists, sociologists, film-makers, novelists endlessly question the prostitute. Most retain a proper distance, most remain “detached” in their questioning. But can we ever “know” a prostitute? Many claim to do so, many lay claim to “the truth.” Even prostitutes themselves, in interview, in “confesions,” in their autobiographies, are caught up in layers of fiction. The attempt here, drawing on the works of a range of theorists, academics, prostitute “voices,” popular writers, great authors, and trash literature is to question our questioning.     

Research participants telling the truth about their lives: the ethics of asking and not asking about abuse

Most discussions of the ethics of self-report research on abuse and interpersonal violence focus on the risks of asking participants about their experiences. An important element of the cost-benefit analysis--the costs of not asking about child abuse--has largely been ignored. Furthermore, little research has been conducted on the costs and benefits of child abuse research, leaving researchers to make decisions based on individual beliefs about such issues as the prevalence of abuse, the likelihood of disclosure, the effects of child abuse, and the ability of abuse survivors to give informed consent. The authors suggest that these beliefs tend to overemphasize survivors' vulnerability and ignore the costs of avoiding asking about abuse. In fact, these beliefs may reinforce societal avoidance of abuse and ultimately harm abuse survivors.     

Scaling questions: asking and answering them in counselling1

Solution-focused counsellors use “scaling questions” to construct understandings of clients’ concerns and solutions to them. We examine how these questions are asked and answered, offering evidence of what is constructed from within counselling discourse. Also, clients and counsellors offer their retrospective accounts of their participation in question and answer sequences in their dialogues. We conclude by speaking to the implications we see from this research as it relates to collaborative and resourceful dialogue between counsellors and clients.     

Guirlanda's question

Abstract

Ruth was an attractive, single woman in her late 30s, well-placed at the executive level of a large corporation. When she had been offered the job a couple of years before beginning analysis with me, it had seemed to her like a dream come true. She would have the opportunity to work at the top levels of a large company, report to the president, and earn a sizeable salary. Best of all, the company was embarking on a major transformation of its internal structure. This was an old, established organization that badly needed to change its outmoded ways, introduce new technology, and re-educate its middle-level managers. Now, there would be change: Creativity and new ideas were highly prized by the president, and a top-flight consultant had been hired to “shake things up.”     

Human and computational question answering

The ability to answer questions about a text is the strongest possible demonstration of text comprehension. The question-answering problems that arise in a story-understanding system are discussed. Some solutions are described and illustrated by a computer program, which reads stories, and answers questions.     

Molyneux' question redux

After more than three centuries, Molyneux's question continues to challenge our understanding of cognition and perceptual systems. Locke, the original recipient of the question, approached it as a theoretical exercise relevant to long-standing philosophical issues, such as nativism, the possibility of common sensibles, and the empiricism-rationalism debate. However, philosophers were quick to adopt the experimentalist's stance as soon as they became aware of recoveries from congenital blindness through ophtalmic surgery. Such recoveries were widely reported to support empiricist positions, suggesting that the question had found its empirical answer. Contrary to this common view, we argue that studies of patients recovering from early blindness through surgery cannot provide an answer. In fact, because of the very nature of such ophtalmological interventions it is impossible to test the question in the empirical conditions outlined by Molyneux. Thus we propose that Molyneux's question be treated as an early thought experiment of a specific kind. Although thought experiments of this kind cannot be turned into actual experimental conditions, they provide a conceptual restructuring of theories. Such restructuring in turn leads to new predictions that can then be tested by normal experiments. In accord with this interpretation, we show that Molyneux's question can be analyzed into a hierarchy of specific questions about vision in its phenomenal and sensory-motor components. Some of these questions do lead to actual experimental conditions that could be studied empirically.     

The motivation question

Philosophical Studies - How does it happen that our beliefs about what we ought to do cause us to intend to do what we believe we ought to do? This is what John Broome calls the “motivation...