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.

Questions and Busyness

Marquardt (2005) suggested a reason we do not ask questions when we should is because we perceive ourselves to be too busy to think through what we really want to know. Good questions require time to simmer; in today's internet society, it is easy to just consider the quick answer and not delve deeper. This is particularly apt when considering your dissertation. This level of thought and analysis requires time to consider all of the information you are gathering, to synthesize it, and to begin to ask the next questions. Some examples: What is missing in the literature? What happens if we consider a new variable? What do I expect to happen in my study? Why is this an important issue?
 

Build into your day some time to think through the questions that are relevant to your project. Try to work through to the deeper answers. Do not be satisfied with the quick response, instead ask yourself: why do I believe that? What proof is there? How can I test whether X really leads to Y? If Y does occur what does that mean to the theories in this area?
 

Today's break photo was taken near Bozeman MT. Next time, I will consider not asking due to a discouragement of questions. 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.

The Power of Questions

Michael Marquardt (2005) identified four reasons we do not ask questions when we should. Over the next few posts, I will examine each of these and how they relate to your dissertation. First, questions are not asked, because we try to protect ourselves from appearing ignorant on the topic. How often have you been reluctant to ask a question about your dissertation because you were afraid it would be seen as a "dumb" question? I see this in several dissertation related instances. One instance is related to the dissertation process, in which students are reluctant to ask about expectations on the various steps (which is one reason I wrote my book!). It is perfectly appropriate to ask faculty about how they will evaluate you, and how the process will happen. I am a firm believer in transparency at each step of the process. Some example questions, how will you be evaluated at the end of the term? How do faculty decide if your dissertation is ready to move on to the next step in the process? What happens during a dissertation defense, and how do they decide if you pass? What happens if you do not pass? 

A second time students are reluctant to ask questions is when they are writing about their data analysis. I have seen students spend days trying to figure it out, when if they asked their faculty mentors it could have been resolved in a few minutes! Yes, I encourage you to take some time to figure it out on your own, but if things are not coming together, ask for help!

Today's break photo was taken of a summer storm near Bozeman MT. Next time, I will consider not asking questions because of being in a hurry. 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.

Awareness of Ignorance

 

Leslie (2014) suggests that information leads to curiosity through an awareness of our ignorance, which in turn leads to a desire to know more. As soon as we know something about a subject, we start to become uncomfortably aware of what we do not know, and that makes us want to close the gap by learning more. So it is not simply the absence of information that creates curiosity, but rather a realization of a gap in our existing knowledge.  

When we know nothing about a subject, we find it hard to engage our brains, because we are intimidated by the prospect of starting to learn about something we may be unable to understand. Let us consider this in the context of your dissertation. When you first begin to the process of working on your dissertation, you are probably quite aware that there is so much you do not know; which may feel intimidating and overwhelming. However, as you begin to read the literature you realize that while there is much you do not know, you do have a basis for understanding the information by building on your previous knowledge. As you begin to make connections, your curiosity grows and you begin to ask questions to fill in the gaps in your knowledge, until you realize that the pieces of information you seek are not available. There is where the basis of your research project begins: that is the gap in the literature you will attempt to fill.

Today's break photo was taken in Montana's Paradise Valley near Emigrant MT. Next time I will consider the power of questions. 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

Leslie, I. (2014). Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends on It. London: Quercus.