04 Step One: Properly Frame the Question (Effective Information Searching)
Description
This article is from the Information Research FAQ, by David Novak david@spireproject.com with numerous contributions by others.
04 Step One: Properly Frame the Question (Effective Information Searching)
The preparation of your question is critical. There is a galaxy of
difference between a young student asking, "I am interested in trees",
and a specific, attainable question like "Where would I find a tree
surgeon I can talk to?"
The information sphere is very large and rather confusing. Each item of
information has aspects of authenticity, accuracy, reliability, and
bias. Information comes in many formats: interviews, books, articles,
statistics. We learn about information from many sources: literature,
discussion, resource lists, experience. There are also personal issues:
budget, time, depth and purpose.
With all this to think about, we must be very careful about each
question we ask. This issue is vital once we start an article search,
and can easily mean the difference between 5 concise articles, and
hundreds of general articles. The essence of our question is the manner
with which we approach the information sphere. The question directs our
efforts.
One key is to treat searching as an art, much like painting or
photography. The true mark of an artist, and the primary step wanna-be
artists miss, is visualizing what you want before you begin.
When searching, sit down and visualize what a successful search would
look like in this situation. How many pages? How many documents? What
kind of authors and what kind of quality of document? Go through the
whole gamut of different types of research tools and describe it. Would
a simple three-line newspaper article be a success? Would a 20-year-old
dissertation be acceptable? Would a short conversation with an expert
suffice? Would all three together suffice? (This approach works
exceptionally well with internet research too.)
If you can phrase a question in a way that lends itself to your
resources, you are far more likely to get the answers desired. Oddly,
this often means you are asking for places where the information
resides rather than asking directly for the information.
A novice starts with a question like, "What can I do for my exceptional
child?" You should rephrase this question immediately. "What resources
will help me help my exceptional child." These are both valid questions
but the second question has a distinct answer - the first is far too
vague. Other questions could be "What are other parents doing for their
exceptional child?" or "Who can help advise me on how to teach my
exceptional child."
Now we shape the question to get precise answers. "Where do I find a
definitive list of associations?" (or a search for "+association
+directory") works much better than, "What association works with
exceptional children?" What about, "Who would know of associations for
exception children?" and, "Are there pamphlets of advice for parents of
exceptional children?" and, "What umbrella organizations/specialist
libraries exist for exceptional children?"
Questions are not right or wrong, just better or worse at illuminating
certain aspects of the answer. Make sure your questions illuminate
something useful.
There are ways to frame questions for commercial databases, for
research assistance, for interviews, for getting the truth from to your
children. Your skill in phrasing the question has a lot to do with the
results. Poor questions tend to come back and haunt us later when you
miss relevant information. Set aside ample time to refresh and reframe
your questions.
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