Discouragement of Questions

Over the past few posts, I have been examining Marquardt's (2005) stated reasons that people do not ask questions. Today, we will take a look at his third reason, you may be afraid to ask questions due to the culture of your environment. Your culture, which may be your university/ program culture, may be discouraging you from asking questions. Some organizations suffer from a form of "group think," which means that people who ask awkward questions are made to feel unwelcome. In the American culture it is common for people to want fast answers, with the only question asked is "What are we going to do about it?" 

This final point that Americans want fast answers needs to be considered in your dissertation work. When you do not find answers that you seek in the literature right away, it is the time for patience and persistence. Research requires you to bring different ideas together, to synthesize. This is not something that can be done quickly; ideas will need to simmer in the back of your mind. You may want to try drawing out a "mind map" where you explore graphically different topics and try to understand how they relate. See http://www.tonybuzan.com/about/mind-mapping/ for some ideas on how to do this. Writing a dissertation is supposed to be challenging. There are no easy or fast answers. The important element is to keep asking questions and searching for the solutions. Do not be satisfied with Wikipedia level answers, find your own! 

Today's break photo was taken near Bozeman MT. Next time, I will post an updated blog index. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu 

Marquardt, M. (2005). Leading with Questions: How Leaders Find the Right Solutions by Knowing What to Ask. Jossey-Bass.