XVIII

HOW  TO  ASK  QUESTIONS  AND  THE  DEVELOPMENT ­
  OF  QUESTION  TRADE  TESTS
Next  to  observation,  the  oldest  method  of  forming  impressions ­
  is  through  oral  questions.  The  first  act  of  the
interviewer  is  to  look  at  the  applicant  and  get  an  instantaneous ­
  impression  of  his  general  appearance.  After
this  the  almost  universal  sequence  is  the  question:  “What’s
your  name?”  This  question  is  followed  by  the  more  or
less  stereotyped  set  of  questions  relating  to  address,  age,
previous  history,  and  so  on,  which  forms  the  body  of  the
interview.  A  great  part  of  the  information  which  forms
the  basis  on  which  an  applicant  is  hired  or  rejected  is  the
result  of  the  questions  which  are  asked  him.
The  text  around  which  this  chapter  is  written  is:  The
Value  of  the  answers  obtained  is  directly  proportional  to
the  value  of  the  questions  asked.  At  one  time,  school
teachers  were  almost  alone  in  recognizing  the  truth  of  this
statement.  Pedagogues  have  long  been  agreed  that  one
of  the  most  important  factors  in  teaching  is  the  art  of
asking  questions  in  such  a  way  as  to  bring  to  light  the
knowledge  and  the  ability  of  the  pupil.  In  the  work  of
employment,  the  importance  of  questions  cannot  be  overestimated, ­
  for  a  large  part  of  the  knowledge  upon  which
the  applicant  is  selected  is  obtained  in  this  way.  And  yet,
important  as  is  the  matter  of  asking  questions,  it,  like  most
other  phases  of  employment,  has  been  left  entirely  to
chance  and  to  the  unguided  discretion  of  individual  inter-MS