Some wise person once stated, "Ask a question and you are a fool for a moment... Don't ask and you are a fool forever." The questions that occur in our minds as we study another culture can be valuable tools for investigation.

The point, however, is not simply to ask questions, but to learn how to ask good questions which delve into the areas we really need to know about.

This is not easy for most of us. It requires that the interviewer clearly establish in his own mind what he wants to know, along with perhaps several possible ways of finding it out. He must also learn to evaluate whether or not he has found what he was looking for. The following methods for asking good questions are intended as only a starting place for successful interviewing.

We divide our questions into two categories, questions to self, and questions to a native.

Questions often occur as you go through the culture learning cycle. Those questions can be extremely valuable in your learning process, especially if they have as a basis the contrast of the culture under study with previously studied cultures. A list of "questions to self" can become sort of checklist of things to be learned.

By the time we have reached a level of language fluency where we will be capable of handling all these questions, and the answers we are likely to get, many pages of questions could be compiled. Granted, some of the questions to self could be answered by the time we are able to ask them, but they still verify progress in the learning process.

The questions to self will need to be organized according to topic or incident, so we can easily retrieve them when we are ready to begin to investigate. Here's a method for working up "questions to self:"

1. A tab should be set up in the Process and Planning notebook called "Interviews" or "Workbook."

2. Write down the topic or the title of the incident that you will be filing or rereading.

3. As you file or reread an incident, list any questions you have that seem to need investigation. Try to sense what legitimately needs investigation, and ask questions that will help you get that information. (Wording is not necessarily important in a question to self -- only that the question must be clear enough for you to reconstruct the issue later.)