How to Ask a Question⌗

One of the most common mistakes I see from beginners in the data field is they tend to ask poor questions in getting help or soliciting feedback. Knowing how to frame the question is extremely import in finding the answer you need quickly and efficiently. Knowing how to frame the question will also help make your Google searches much better as well. So with this post I’m going to go over a couple mistakes and how to improve your questions to avoid them.

The question is too broad⌗

I see these mainly in questions like “How do I get a job in sports?” or “How do I learn analytics?”. These questions are SO broad that it would take one person months to write a response that covers all the important subjects. People have already written books on these broad question subjects a lot of the times. Some people won’t even respond, because questions that are over broad just can’t be answered in a brief form.

If you want to get a response, its best to narrow down the focus of your question to something that can be quickly answered by the person you are asking the question too. Instead of “How do I get a job in sports?” ask “How did YOU get a job in sports?” or “What skills helped you get a job in sports?”. See how the reframed questions are much easier to answer?

This works also with trying to get help with your analysis. Instead of asking “How would you model this interaction?”, focus the question with “I’ve tried to model this interaction using this method, do you agree”. It allows the answerer to often give a yes or no answer which is much easier to answer than go over all the possible methods that could be appropriate for the “interaction” in question.

Most importantly focusing the question allows the person answering the question to answer it much more easily. People are busy, respect their time and they’ll be much more likely to help now and in the future.

Include all the info with the question⌗

This pertains to coding questions, but I’ve seen it in other fields as well. If you are having an issue with your code include EVERYTHING when asking your question not just the code itself. If it’s using certain data include the data. If it’s throwing a particular error include the error message and full stack trace (basically everything the computer prints out in an error). Including this info makes it much easier for the person to answer your question. Often the answer is in the info itself. Also do not send this info in a screen shot. Send it in text form so others can just cut and paste the error or code wherever they need to post it to solve your problem.

This best way to do this is to create a GitHub repository with the files you want someone to look at. If you are unfamiliar with Git (a must learn but that’s another topic) then paste the code into a Gist. Most people can’t just look at code and figure out the error unless it’s glaringly obvious so taking these extra steps will help out the people trying to help you.

This is my personal pet peeve so may not apply to others, do not send me code in a tweet or twitter direct message. It completely ruins the format and makes it impossible to understand what’s going on. I’m just going to ask you to email me it anyways. If you really want me to solve your problem ASAP then open a Stack Overflow question

There are many other ways to ask better questions, but these tips should help you get started on learning how to ask better questions of others and get you answers faster.