Exercises I: What Is Wrong with These Questions?

Instructions:Read the questions that follow and decide what makes them bad questions. In writing your criticism, look for questions that assume there is only one answer, inflict values on the individual, make the person defensive, make assumptions, cut off discussion, or change the subject.

1. A woman is telling a worker why she has come to the shelter tonight. Right in the middle of her gripping tale about what was going on at home only a few hours before, the worker says, "How long has this been going on?"
2. A worker has listened to a young mother talk about how she dropped out of school and got pregnant and has no skills. Finally the worker interrupts to ask, "Did you have to get pregnant? Didn't you know about birth control?"
3. A man calls and says he is depressed. He has felt depressed for some time and is now thinking of suicide. The worker asks, "Where is your wife? Are you divorced?"
4. A man is telling you about the night he witnessed a murder. The victim was his brother-in-law, and although he was never very close to him, he feels that maybe he could have stopped his death in some way. The worker asks, "Why don't you just go and ask the police?"
5. A woman has come into temporary shelter with a lot of debts. She has been out looking for work today and is discouraged about not finding anything yet. She sits down tiredly in the worker's office and talks about what her day was like. The worker asks, "Did you have to get so many debts?"
6. A man wants to know if his wife is all right after she has been raped. He is sitting with a worker in the waiting room while his wife is being seen in the emergency room. The worker answers his question with one of her own: "How much does your wife mean to you?"
7. A patient in a partial hospitalization program for the chronically mentally ill tells the worker that when the group went to the mall, one of the patients took a pair of socks without paying for them. The worker asks, "You told someone right away, didn't you?"
8. A woman is telling about the time her coworkers waste when the supervisors are out at meetings all day. The worker responds, "Why don't you say something?"
9. A woman tells a worker about a long and difficult marriage she has endured. She mentions abuse, both verbal and physical, and talks about her own failing health in recent months. The worker asks, "Why can't you just bring yourself to divorce him?"
10. A man is trying to sort out whether or not to leave his employer. He feels that the small company is poorly run and that he could do better job if he went out on his own. On the other hand, he likes his employer, and he feels sorry for him and the mess he's made of his business. He knows that if he leaves, things will really fall apart. The worker asks, "Don't you value loyalty?