Here’s the next in my occasional series of bite-size Quick Tips. Click on the Quick Tips tag for my other Quick Tips. Because I tend to write longer posts, I wanted to provide a quick-to-read (and quick-to-write) post every now and then on a small topic that pops into my head. This one can save you time and effort.
Ask yourself open questions
It’s always a good idea to start a research session with a question that you want answered. And it can pay to be careful how you phrase those questions.
Rather than asking yourself a confirming question like “Was my great grandmother Alice Ruberson born in Kansas?” it’s better to ask an open question, like “Where was my great grandmother Alice born?”
The reason for this is confirmation bias, the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories (according to the Oxford English Dictionary). As Amy Johnson Crow explained in this morning’s Wikitree Symposium, when you think you know the answer, you’re likely to stop researching once you find evidence that confirms it. But when you ask an open question, you tend to search more extensively.
Next time you come up with a research question, consider how you’re phrasing it.
Photo by Sam Dan Truong on Unsplash
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