Answer-seeking questions

see question-framing | see outcome-seeking questions | see opportunity-seeking questions | other glossary terms

Examples

what is the time? - this is a question that calls for reasonably simple answers in the form of words or numbers.
''what is causing the climate emergency?" - also calls for answers, even though they may be more complex.

When seeking workable solutions to complex real-world problems (e.g. wicked problems) are cannot always be framed in unambiguous terms.
They may, for example, include non-verbal solutions such as forms, shapes or technologies that defy simple description.
However, once a workable solution can be found it will be easier to name and define it.
Once this has happened it will be easier to design questions that can be answered in words or text.

words rather than making robust truth claims, or theories.

Recognising an answer-seeking question

A good test of an answer-seeking question is to ask oneself what kind of reply would fully satisfy it. If it can be written or spoken it may be an 'answer-seeking question'. If not, it may be an outcome-seeking question. What an 'answer-seeking question' invites is one of a small set of predictable (i.e. 'stable', 'durable', 'certain' or 'tacitly agreed') responses that are expected (i.e. designed) to be judgeable as either 'true' or 'false'. One extreme version of this is the genre of a court room interrogation, in which a lawyer brings about an admission of guilt by framing questions that elicit a reduced set of (potentially incriminating) options. The type of knowledge that is elicited by an answer-seeking question is also referred to as declarative knowledge. There are many categories of answer-seeking question (see Wikipedia entry).

Example	Likely minimum outcome
What is the name of x?	invites the respondent to offer a specific name
When did x happen?	invites the respondent to give a specific time
Did you do x?	invites the respondent to give a yes, or no answer
Can we design better ways to travel?	invites the respondent to give a yes or no answer