answer:Of course, I’m a professional at this. You want to know why people are doing what they are doing to make sure you are tackling the right problem. I get tons of people who come into my office and act like they know what they want. “Give me this,” they say. It didn’t take me long to figure out that if I gave them that, I’d see them back in my office the next day, and the day after that, asking for something different each time. They might never get it right. So I have a process I go through with them. Basically, I say, “What is your research question?” Either they have one, or they have to think up one. But if I can get them to refine their research question, everything will follow from that, and when I give them something, it will be what they need; not what they think they need. I think this experience makes me seem a little arrogant on fluther, sometimes. I will often look at a question, and figure I know the question behind the question—the true question, but the one that wasn’t asked. I will answer that question, instead of the asked question. Or I might answer both. A lot of people don’t know where my answers come from, because they don’t see the question. They think I go too far. Or they think I assume too much. I assume I know what the real question is, and it is true that I do that and I could be wrong. Unfortunately, I can’t interview people who ask questions on fluther. I can’t ask them their real agenda. I can only use my experience to make a damn good guess about what they really want. So I answer the real question. I answer the “why” question. Why are you asking this? Where do you really need to get? And in that way, I often avoid having to answer the series of questions that it takes people to get to figure out what they really want. Still, I’m a professional. I help people figure out what they really want to know for a living. Then I help them figure out how to get the answer to their question. So, this is not something you should try at home. ;-)