Techniques Used to Deal With “Don’t Know”, “Uncertainty “ and Refusal to Answer Question, Essay Example

There are many techniques and ways of dealing with the above situations.  Many of the techniques used relate specifically to certain situations while some are general, just the use of common sense. Some ways are universally used but some tend to be applied to some communities or certain disciplines. The situations mostly arise when answering questionnaires and similar documents.  These responses are considered like no response or middle answers. Here we going to look at some situation and the techniques used to solve the identified situation.

The first situation is planning in communities which is generally accomplished by the collection of different opinions from people in the community through questionnaires. In these questionnaires, the respondents will meet questions with “don’t know “or “no opinion” as the answer. Without this as the options for answering, many respondents’ will choose not to answer or be neutral in their answer (Steven, p120). The research has come up with a split-ballot experiment which examines the effect of these responses to the community. In place of the “don’t know” and “no opinion”, intensity of opinions, salience of survey questions and selected demographics are used.

The other method used in handling this kind of response is the valuation dichotomous choice of questions instead of questions that give room for such response. Researchers also use the calculation of ambivalence bounds in case a “don’t know” response is expected. For example a question a bout the dogma in Orthodox Christianity, rejecting the beliefs or contradicting them is normally taken as contradicting the truth. Hence many denominations have come up with their definition of the same that suit their cultures and belief hence any question asked will be answered accordingly.

Another situation is the questions administered to expecting mothers. Most of the questions were not being responded to appropriately hence the introduction of the Edinburgh Postnatal depression scale. It enables doctors ask more questions a bout a particular issue that has been identified as problematic. With the use of the scale, the women will respond appropriately and heir answers be interpreted.

The movement of the body is also another way of responding instead of the no/yes answers. The method is called ideomotor responding. It’s a subconscious method and is more reliable than the analytical mind (Frank, p67). This is seen when some people will say yes yet moving the no finger. It’s a simple process that involves the identification of which finger will stand for know and which for yes then the person is asked a question and expected to answer it at the same time respond with the fingers.

In the business sector, the knowledge of what to expect and how to answer questions is important for one to be an effective witness. The CPA’s that mostly value business have to appear as experts witness in the related trials. This article gives the information of ways both effective and non effective on presentation of testimony by expert witness in the valuation of businesses hence avoid the “don’t know” responses.

Another case concerning the “don’t know” responses is the George Monbiot’s situation where he didn’t succeed in his attempt to pin down Ian Plimer in an argument on non-science. Plimer being unable to face the challenges from Monbiot, he evades the questions by coming up with the same questions and posting them as assignments. Plimer being naïve in the field of science but didn’t want to go down to Monbit, decides to evade the question rather having the “don’t know” responses. This is also anther method of dealing with such responses.

Works Cited

Frank Schmalleger. Criminal Justice Today: An Introduction Text for the 21^st Century. Prentice Hall, 2006:45-99

Steven Lab. Criminal Justice: The Essentials. Oxford University Press, 2007:88-134