Chapter 7 - Questioning In Professions
Having covered the basics of interrogation, the author now considers some of the specific professions in which interrogation is common, including some of the tactics used in a number of professional situations and environments.
Education
Education, whether in an academic or professional environment, can take two forms. The least effective form of education is lecturing - telling students facts to accept and memorize. A more effective approach is to ask students questions that lead them to discover answers for themselves - and doing so requires very polished interrogation skills.
(EN: Having been through pedagogical training and worked as an instructor, I can vouch for this - but will also attest it's very difficult. Students grow uncomfortable when they are unable to answer questions, and there's some knowledge that's not inside them to be drawn out and is highly unlikely to be discovered. So while I agree that the Socratic method can be effective, it is not always applicable, and sometimes you just have to tell them. Depending on the subject and level of the learners, you may have to do a lot more telling than asking.)
At the very least, test design is based on interrogation: virtually every method of evaluating students' learning consists of asking questions to see if they know the answers. Students are routinely frustrated by "bad tests" or individual questions that they are unable to answer - they had the knowledge, but the question was unclear or confusing.
In upper-level and graduate education, the teaching may shift from asking review questions to asking true questions, where the professor does not have a ready answer and the student's work is to conduct his own investigation of a topic. This starts with knowing how to ask a productive "research question" to investigate.
The author lists a number of goals of academic questioning:
- Understand - These questions require students to demonstrate that they can apply what they have learned, and often take the form of "Given that X, what would Y be?" These kinds of questions challenge the students to apply knowledge in the same way as in real-life scenarios: "Given the tensile strength of steel, how thick would the support beams of a 100-foot bridge need to be in order to support ten tons of weight?"
- Discover - These questions guide students to discover facts, rather than draw conclusions based on given facts. To ask "Which US Presidents were impeached?" challenges them to crack a book or do an internet search to find out the answer. During this process, they may discover other information as well, or become curious about ancillary topics.
- Acquaint - Similar to discovery, this requests a student to do more than repeat facts. "Why did Japan choose to ally itself with Germany in the second World War?" challenges a student to do more than simply confirm that the alliance occurred, and consider rationale.
- Decide - These questions challenge the students to apply what they have learned in a situation in which there is no clear answer. "To improve unemployment, would it be better to reduce taxes or to invest in job training programs?" requires students to seek to understand the alternatives
- Invent - A question that challenges the student to contrive the solution to a problem by constructing a model or recommending a course of action. "What can be done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles?" is such a question (EN: it seems to me that this is similar to an open-ended decision question.)
- Persuade - A question that challenges the student to present a logical argument that will convince another party. "What three film directors of the present day produce films that are likely to stand the test of time?" requires a broad knowledge of the subject.
- Challenge/Dimsiss - A question that asks the student to determine what is wrong about an assertion, such as "What are the chief weaknesses of _____?" This question requires the student to understand and analyze facts and have a strong enough grasp of theory to identify mistakes.
- Wonder - A question that challenges students to consider a possible outcome based on contingencies. "What would our economy be like if cars had never been discovered?" is a question that causes them to ponder possibilities outside the realm of facts.
- Predict - A question of prediction requires a student to understand the factors that lead to an outcome and imagine what will happen in future if no change is made. "Based on the current economic policies, what will happen to unemployment next year?"
The author pauses to note that "learning" questions can be asked even in a business or other setting, and are particularly useful for innovating or planning for the future.
Medicine (Non-Emergency)
Treat in a patient in a non-crisis situation often involves gathering information about their condition that the caregiver cannot see. People will offer information about the difficulties they encounter and the discomfort they experience, but a doctor must interview them further to confirm their symptoms and gather details that will lead to a more accurate diagnosis. He notes that many doctors claim patients are "poor historians" and asserts that many doctors are poor interrogators - they do not get the information they need because they fail to ask.
The author goes through a list of diagnostic questions related to pain (EN: likely there are better examples from other sources) - where it occurs, where else it occurs, how long it has been going on, whether it came on suddenly or gradually, if any activities seem to make it better or worse, etc.
Doctors also must deal with disinformation on a fairly regular basis: some patients feel they already know what is wrong with them, or are seeking a specific treatment, and will attempt to craft their answers in a way that leads the doctor to the same conclusion. Patients are also loath to answer embarrassing questions, or those that suggest bad behavior. When a dentist asks a patient how often they floss, what they hear is often not true.
A few notes are given about asking persistent questions, such as asking "how long ago" the patient last ate, and later asking "what time" they ate, to get confirmation. Asking patients about non-medical matters can also help put them at ease before asking more intrusive questions.
Medicine (Urgent Care)
Medical care in an emergency situation shares many qualities in common with the non-urgent medical scenario - but also has about it a quality of panic. Patients are prone to exaggerate their problems to get care faster, particularly when there is a situation in which many people need help at the same time and there is a risk they will be ignored (for now) if they don't have a major issue.
In urgent situations, doctors also have to gather information quickly, to triage the patient and take action without having a long conversation, or chasing after minor problems instead of dealing with the cause of the emergency. The question "What is the main reason you are here today?" is quite popular in emergency clinics.
In emergency situations, there is also a tendency for individuals to withhold information to avoid embarrassment (to say "I fell" rather than admit they were doing something acutely stupid). In instances where multiple people are injured, there is also a tendency for someone to understate their condition (a mother who wants to ensure her child is treated first may conceal the seriousness of her own condition).
Emergency Response
The author seems to roll a wide array of professions into emergency response: from typical 911 operators (police, fire, and ambulance) to mental health hotline operators to disaster relief agencies.
(EN: Unfortunately, the rest of this section is a ramble of random facts and anecdotes that doesn't clearly communicate much of anything.)
Legal Discovery
In the legal system, both police and attorneys interrogate witnesses, victims, and suspects to a crime. Many people have a great deal of misperception about this process, as police and courtroom drama are popular forms of entertainment and the depictions are highly unrealistic and far more dramatic than real-life investigation and examination.
In actuality, the type of interrogation done in courtrooms is mostly for show. There are few shocking discovery of information that was not already known, and the attorneys are merely using questioning to get witnesses to present testimony that has already been gathered by police investigations. It is for the benefit of judge and jury, as the attorneys already know the facts
Witness depositions conducted before the case are the period in which attorneys and police are attempting to gather information they do not know, and to assess the credibility and reliability of various accounts to determine which witnesses can be used in court - those who are credible and whose stories won't unravel under cross-examination.
Sales and Service
Customer service and sales are common professions in which interrogation is used to help discover the customer's needs in order to provide service or a product that will be effective in solving them. "How may I help you today?" is a traditional question that begins a longer conversation.
In many instances, the customer knows exactly what he needs and the salesman can simply guide him to the appropriate selections. In other instances, the customer may have made this decision himself and a sales interrogation can help to determine whether the produce he has in mind is, indeed, an effective solution to his needs.
In the best of cases, sales merely matches customers to the right products - though the interrogation process can sometimes be used to subvert this and push product at a customer. This is not a "real" interrogation because in these instances the salesman is not trying to discover the customer's needs and may even be completely indifferent to them - it is an argument disguised as an interrogation.
(EN: Pushing a customer is a pyrrhic victory. A salesman can hustle a customer once, but he will eventually discover the product is not suitable and feel betrayed, damaging their willingness to do business with the same brand/retailer in future. But that's another matter - for now it should be stressed that proper sales and service is an investigative process.)
Business Negotiations
Business negotiations also require interrogation skills, though in these instances it is not entirely straightforward. When two parties are being fully transparent and fully cooperative, the negotiation merely explores the nature of the exchange - what each party expects to give and get from working together. The problem is that these negotiations are seldom straightforward, and both sides seek to conceal information from the other, making it more difficult to come to an agreement.
The simple sales transaction is an example: the customer doesn't want to disclose the maximum price he is willing to pay because he believes the seller will agree to less, whereas the seller doesn't want to disclose the minimum he is willing to accept because he believes the buyer will agree to more. So they play a game of verbal chess, each one trying to figure out the number the other one is concealing to maximize his own profit. Whether the negotiation is between a customer and a retailer, a manufacturer and a supplier, or a candidate and an employer, it's essentially the same.
(EN: After this, there are a few scenarios that demonstrate the way in which interrogation tactics can be used to extract information that identifies what the other party is really looking for in a deal. However, it's idiosyncratic and there are better sources to consult on business negotiations.)