Asking Smart Questions Students who ask questions are more likely to succeeded versus student who thinks they understand the material but don’t. However, asking the question in the right format provides a more efficient path to their learning process. When it comes to asking through the internet, a student asking a question with clear description only need to ask the question once to receive the answer he needs. A student asking a vague or undetailed question, will lead to him responding on the forum multiple times to explain what exactly he is asking. It can also lead to helpers who originally want to answer the question, instead ignoring the question because they can’t diagnose what exactly the problem is. Asking questions in a smart way can effectively lower the time consumption of the process receiving the answer.
So, when it comes to question about coding, what exactly differentiates question that only need to be ask once, and questions that will require more clarification?
A question that lay down the detail descriptions of the problem will give the helper the information it needs to diagnose the problem. Not explaining all the detail is like putting a blindfold over a helper head and it won’t be able to see what is wrong with the problem. It is also important to provide the background information of the problem, information such as what IDE is being used, what language are you writing in. These details will let whoever is trying to solve the problem replica the exact same setting the problem occurs in. Another piece of information to provide is what steps has been tried to resolve the issue. This eliminates the helper providing solutions that has been tried that does not work or allowing the helper to identify what step went wrong in the process of trying solution that was used. When providing the information to the problem, it is important to remember to use the correct grammar to avoid confusions. Another important note is to describe the problems symptom in chronological order, this will allow the read to correctly identify the problem instead of thinking of providing solution to a different issue.
Examples of question that is ask in a effective way versus question ask in a non-effective way
In the example where a stackOverflow ask “How do you create a remote Git branch”. The user provides an example of asking question in effective way. It is clear from the question that the user wants to know how to create Git branch that can be access on the Github website rather than locally. The users also elaborates on his problem explaining he doesn’t want to push the branch until he is satisfy with it. The user provides a clear and detail explanation to his problem, he also provides the background information on what is working on. Stack overflow users can understand what he is having problem with and knows what software he is using.
In the example of a non-effective way of asking question. A Stack overflow user ask: “Why my code doesn’t work on Internet Explorer”. The question header is vague, then the user proceeds to just showing snippets of his code and a picture of the error. The user doesn’t explain exactly provide a explanation to what is his problem, he also doesn’t explain what he is working on. Stack overflow users have to guess what he is working on in the comments. This method of asking question complicates the experience for the person asking the question and the person trying to solve the question. It is time consuming and non-effective.
Smart Question link: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1519006/how-do-you-create-a-remote-git-branch/27185855#27185855 “Bad” question link: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14475319/why-my-code-doesnt-work-on-internet-explorer