How to Ask a Good Question

famous people often come to visit universities to give speeches, and there's often a period at the end during which people can ask questions. the questions asked are usually bad, and i've often wished that i had a good question prepared whenever i've been given the chance to ask a question of some knowledgeable/famous person. so how should i go about coming up with a good question?

A: My current guess is that you should first decide what your goal is, and then choose a question that is most likely to achieve that goal. 


step 1: read the stuff they've written

step 2: begin in a friendly way (as dale carnegie said). if you come off as confrontational, they'll be a lot more likely to try to dodge whatever question you're throwing at them.

step 3: try to take into account what it will be like from that person's perspective to get your question. if an honest answer will make them look bad in front of the audience (or will be confrontational or likely to make the news), then they may be less likely to give that answer.


problem: the person can always just dodge the question

Check out the white house press corps



News Articles Regarding Questions Asked of People

• Romney: Spending cuts slow economic growth
  • http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20 ... mic-growth

  • Quote:

    Speaking in Shelby Township, MI, the former Massachusetts governor took a question about the Simpson-Bowles fiscal commission empaneled by President Obama to address the nation's deficit and debt issues. In his response, he said that addressing taxes and spending issues are essential.
    
    "If you just cut, if all you're thinking about doing is cutting spending, as you cut spending you'll slow down the economy," he said in part of his response. "So you have to, at the same time, create pro-growth tax policies."
    
    That sort of comment was sure to raise the eyebrows of fiscal conservatives in the GOP, who have long preached a message of fiscal restraint as a path to economic growth.

• 2014.06.02 - VICE - I Confronted Donald Trump in Dubai

  • The floor opens to questions.

    I stand up.

    “Mr. Trump,” I ask, “the workers who build your villas make less than $200 a month. Are you satisfied?"

    The room gasps, then goes silent. The security tenses towards me. In two hours I am scheduled to interview Ahmed Mansoor, who spent eight months in jail for signing a pro-democracy petition. I think about Nick McGeehan, a researcher from Human Rights Watch who was deported a few months ago for investigating the same migrant issues I am.

    I think about the web of professional coercion that keeps journalists in the US from asking real questions at press conferences. I wonder if the rules in Dubai are the same.

    Trump says nothing.

    “That's not an appropriate question,” the publicist barks.

    • In this case, the goal was just to make the person look bad. The fact that Trump did not answer made her question more powerful.

How to Get Past an Attempt to Dodge Questions