Beginning an
Investigation
Defining Terms and Concepts by Asking Questions
Defining Terms and Concepts by Asking Questions
One very important skill honed in
humanities courses is how to ask probing questions (Investigation). Asking questions serves to clarify the
meanings of terms and concepts which are shared by you and your audience,
whether you work in a lab, law office, corporate environment, retail, school,
band, etc. In depth questions and
responses are essential for analysis and strategic planning. It is really
useful everywhere.
When
beginning your investigation, Do not take any term, word or phrase at face
value, and Do not assume that your audience necessarily shares your intrinsic
understanding of that term and its related concept.
For
the most part, many of the terms used in our own sub-culture carry meaning
which we do not feel necessary to define. We are able to cruise through life
and conversation utilizing words, phrases, cliches without giving them a second
thought. The people in our immediate family, social circle, and subculture share our interpretation of these ideas. The moment we begin to converse .with those
outside our immediate sphere of social interaction, we need to be more careful
with our use of language if we are to be understood. Each group has
a specialized understanding of words and concepts. Often the same word carries multiple
meanings.
It
is this very real language phenomenon which makes “literal interpretation”
impossible. It is however a great demonstration of the humor found in satire and puns. One must of course
understand the cultural usage of the word, phrase or idiom to understand the
meaning.
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So lets try an example:
How would you define The Green Bay
Packers?
We
could say, “They suck!, "They have rabid fans”, "Cheeseheads!" while these may be a useful subjective sentiments in
understanding a certain sub-cultural emotional perspective, it doesn’t really serve as a useful
objective definition.
Just as we often find that people have emotional responses to music (e.g. "Its relaxing", "Its upbeat" ,"It makes me feel like dancing." etc.), we need to find a way to get past those initial sentiments in order to describe musical events objectively in order to have fully meaningful discussions.
Just as we often find that people have emotional responses to music (e.g. "Its relaxing", "Its upbeat" ,"It makes me feel like dancing." etc.), we need to find a way to get past those initial sentiments in order to describe musical events objectively in order to have fully meaningful discussions.
So
lets try to define in measurable terms what the Green Bay Packers are as if we had to explain it to someone who knows nothing about them. We do this by asking questions ourselves to
discover what is really necessary to know.
Q:
What are The Green Bay Packers?
A:
The Green Bay Packers are a sports team.
Q:
Do they play against the Yankees?
A:
No, the Yankees play baseball. The Green
Bay Packers are a Football team.
Q:
Have any of their players played in the World Cup?
A:
No, the World Cup is for soccer teams (called football teams everywhere else in
the world). The Green Bay Packers play
American Football.
Q:
Oh yeah, you mean like the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Do they ever play each other?
A:
No, the Nebraska Cornhuskers are a college team. The Green Bay Packers are a professional
American Football team. There are 32
professional teams. These teams are
divided into two conferences of 16 teams, the American Football Conference
(AFC) and the National Football Conference).
Each conference is further subdivided into 4 divisions, North, East,
South and West. After the regular season the winners of each division (plus two
of the higher performing teams within the division (termed Wild Card teams)
goes on to play for the conference championship in a round of play-offs. The Champion of each Conference then goes on
to play for the NFL Championship in a game called the “Super Bowl.” The Green Bay Packers are a professional
American Football team in the National Football Conference, North Division of
the National Football League and are the most recent Super Bowl Champions.
Q:
North Division, NFC – got it, so where exactly is Green Bay.
A:
Green Bay is located on the western shore of Lake Michigan
in the state of Wisconsin .
Q:
How close is Lake Michigan to Lake Tahoe ?
A:
Not even. Lake Michigan is one of the 5 Great Lakes . Wisconsin is a Great Lakes state north central United States bordered by Lake Superior and the
Upper Peninsula of Lake Michigan on the north, Lake Michigan on the east and
the St. Croix river on the west.
Q:
Can they use their hands? Can they touch other players? How many people on a
team? How many on the field at one time? etc.
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As
you can see one can get really get down to specifics when asking probing
questions. In fact in the span of 10 minutes I have written about one page
of essay worthy material by describing something I already know through
question and answer. And I haven’t even gotten into discussing, venues, how
the game is played, positions on the team, fans, merchandising advertising, its
relationship to the rest of American culture etc.
This
technique is easily applied to your studies in the book. i.e.
Q:
What is a kidi?
A:
A kidi is a drum
Q:
Like a snare drum in an American rock band?
A:
No it is an African drum.