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The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Kortestanov - 2010-05-31
I have already came across this type of a situation over a year ago, but it has occurred much more frequently to me lately. You are asked a question and can give two possible answers. However, one of them is the correct answer, while the other one is incorrect, inaccurate or irrelevant to the specific question but you assume that it will be more helpful for the person you are talking with.
Let me give you a very simple and abstract example of such a situation for you to get the grasp of what I am talking about:
You are walking in the street when suddenly a stranger approaches you and asks you where is the nearest bus stop. You, being familiar with the neighborhood, know how to explain him how to get there, but you also know that it is 5km away and that there is a train station much closer. Would you explain the person how to reach the bus station he asked for, or will you try and help him by offering the closer solution (the train)?
I usually come across such situations daily (in more sophisticated ways than the one described here), and unless the person is someone I know and I want to help (for example, a good friend), I am very strict about giving the correct answer, even if I think I understand what the person wants to do and I know a simpler way of doing this.
The reason I act like that is because I always think about what answer would I like to hear if I was the one asking the question. Getting back to the bus\train example above, I would have never asked where is the bus station unless I already checked the other options and reached the conclusion that the bus is what I need. If I haven't checked them yet, I would explicitly ask for the best or most convenient way of getting where I want, and only after I have made up my mind about what type of transportation I would like to use, I would ask where can I find it.
What is southperry's opinion regarding the matter?
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Manu - 2010-05-31
I think I don't quite get it really, but for the bus example, I'd give both answers.
"The closest bus station is 5km away, but there's a train station right around the corner"
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Chewy - 2010-05-31
I would give the correct answer, but also mention the more helpful answer.
"There nearest bus station is at blah blah blah, but there's a train station right down the street"
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Kortestanov - 2010-06-02
Yes, well, my original thought was a situation where you cannot give both answers. I want to know which of the options seem more right, so consider the "both" option unavailable.
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Nikkey - 2010-06-02
Kortestanov Wrote:Yes, well, my original thought was a situation where you cannot give both answers. I want to know which of the options seem more right, so consider the "both" option unavailable.
Can you give me an example of such a situation? I'm just wondering, since I cannot really find one myself.
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Swerve - 2010-06-02
Devil's Sunrise Wrote:Can you give me an example of such a situation? I'm just wondering, since I cannot really find one myself.
You work for your school campus and are responsible for reporting cable boxes that have bad wiring. The fact is that most boxes are in horrible shape. It would take you 20 minutes per box to fix the wiring yourself. Or you could kick the boxes off, thus removing you of responsibility and leaving it to the Cable Division. The Cable Division have a professionally trained staff that will assess the situation. The quality is much higher than what you could possibly do on your own. You have fixed a lot of boxes already and you are not being paid by how many boxes you fix. You are only paid by the hour. You are also the hardest worker on the team and have fixed more boxes than both your supervisors who insist that it is tradition to just "kill" bad boxes and leave it to the Cable Division. You know that you should fix the boxes yourself. But leaving it to the Cable Division would be helping out you, your teammates, and the dorm residents who will be living there during the regular school year. It has also been well known that the Cable Division barely does enough work to justify the pay they are commissioned.
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Nikkey - 2010-06-02
Swerve Wrote:You work for your school campus and are responsible for reporting cable boxes that have bad wiring. The fact is that most boxes are in horrible shape. It would take you 20 minutes per box to fix the wiring yourself. Or you could kick the boxes off, thus removing you of responsibility and leaving it to the Cable Division. The Cable Division have a professionally trained staff that will assess the situation. The quality is much higher than what you could possibly do on your own. You have fixed a lot of boxes already and you are not being paid by how many boxes you fix. You are only paid by the hour. You are also the hardest worker on the team and have fixed more boxes than both your supervisors who insist that it is tradition to just "kill" bad boxes and leave it to the Cable Division. You know that you should fix the boxes yourself. But leaving it to the Cable Division would be helping out you, your teammates, and the dorm residents who will be living there during the regular school year. It has also been well known that the Cable Division barely does enough work to justify the pay they are commissioned.
uh. What's the question?
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Corn - 2010-06-02
Devil's Sunrise Wrote:uh. What's the question?
Should you fix the boxes or leave it to the Cable Division, I guess.
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Swerve - 2010-06-02
Q: Should you fix the boxes or break them?
A. Fixing them would lead to the "morally right" decision because you are doing your job but would take up too much time and cause problems for your teammates.
B. Breaking them would lead to the "helpful" decision because the Cable Division people would fix it but it's skimping out on your duties.
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Shidoshi - 2010-06-02
I think Kortestanov's dilemma wasn't really about "morally right" vs "self help/needs" and more of "accurately correct answer but not necessarily helpful" vs "not what is asked but most likely helpful
Though I can't think of a situation where they are mutually exclusive.
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Swerve - 2010-06-02
Explaining to a little kid what pi is.
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Russt - 2010-06-03
Swerve Wrote:Explaining to a little kid what pi is.
Here's a penny. See this penny?
![[Image: penny-500.jpg]](http://thewordwarrior.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/penny-500.jpg)
Now say that this penny is one penny-length across: about this long. What if we want to measure around the penny? Let's say I take a piece of string and cut it so that it's just long enough to wrap all the way around the penny. Now let's see how many pennies fit across this string when we straighten it out. 1, 2, 3 - a little more than 3 pennies, but less than 4. The number of penny-lengths that go around the penny is a special number between 3 and 4. We call it pi.
This is true for every circle, not just pennies. See this Frisbee?
![[Image: frisbee%5B1%5D.png]](http://bcsd.k12.ny.us/middle/Canuto/images/frisbee%5B1%5D.png)
Let's call the distance across the Frisbee one Frisbee-length. The distance around the Frisbee is going to be a little more than 3 Frisbee-lengths, but less than 4. Actually, it's exactly pi Frisbee-lengths.
See this face?
![[Image: awesome.png]](https://people.mozilla.com/~dolske/tmp/awesome.png)
... Yeah.
So, children. Remember this. The way they teach you to count in preschool is WRONG. This is the right way to count: 1, 2, 3, pi, 4. Yeah.
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Nikkey - 2010-06-03
Swerve Wrote:Q: Should you fix the boxes or break them?
A. Fixing them would lead to the "morally right" decision because you are doing your job but would take up too much time and cause problems for your teammates.
B. Breaking them would lead to the "helpful" decision because the Cable Division people would fix it but it's skimping out on your duties.
And option C: "Talking with your boss about this issue" isn't available? :x
Swerve Wrote:Explaining to a little kid what pi is.
I don't see the issue here: You can perfectly well state both the correct and the helpful one. Or even better: The helpful way to understand the correct one.
Russt: Pi is the ratio of the radius and the circumsphere. Not the diameter (at least I think of the diameter when you say across).
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Kalovale - 2010-06-03
Devil's Sunrise Wrote:And option C: "Talking with your boss about this issue" isn't available? :x
I don't see the issue here: You can perfectly well state both the correct and the helpful one. Or even better: The helpful way to understand the correct one.
Russt: Pi is the ratio of the radius and the circumsphere. Not the diameter (at least I think of the diameter when you say across).
But when you line up circles to measure how long the "string" is, saying that it's 6 radius long is more incomprehensible for children than 3 diameter (which happens to be one unit per coin) long. And formulaically, it's the same thing.
And lmao, I wish my teachers had used a similar approach.
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Hazzy - 2010-06-03
Devil's Sunrise Wrote:Russt: Pi is the ratio of the radius and the circumsphere. Not the diameter (at least I think of the diameter when you say across).
A=pi*r^2
C=2*pi*r, d=r*2
C=d*pi
??
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Khoi - 2010-06-03
Usually, there's a way to do both. Sometimes, the correct answer is the most helpful one, and vice-versa. It depends on the circumstances though. They're also both positives, so regardless, the outcome won't be a bad thing that will affect anything.
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Stereo - 2010-06-03
If you can't answer both ways, I think the "correct" answer is the right way to go. That way you ensure you answer their question, even if it's not in the most helpful way possible. When you offer alternatives you're not necessarily giving them what they need, and it's your fault not theirs. If the question is so badly worded that they get a useless answer which happens to be correct, that's their fault.
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Kortestanov - 2010-06-03
Let me give an example scenario where you can't do both options:
You are the owner of a website-making company. You are meeting with a customer, taking orders from him on how to build the site. In order to make both options fair, lets assume you don't gain any extra profit from creating a bigger site and getting paid more for it. Now, the customer tells you he wants A and B and C and D. However, by the way he describes his site you think D is not required. Your options:
A.The "correct" option - tell him okay, good bye and go away
B.The "helpful" option - try to convince him that D is not required
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - mrcowcow - 2010-06-03
I almost always do what you call the "correct" option, rarely the "helpful" option.
I think it's kind of like the scenario where someone asks you, "Can I see that?" I answer yes, but never hand it to them, since he or she never asked to handle it. And if I'm taking this in the right direction, it's kind of like when you ask someone something, and they don't give you the direct answer, and instead say something else that's slightly relevant, but not the answer you want, like the bus/train scenario in your opening post. I hate it when that happens. It really pisses me off, so it's built me into the kind of person that gives the direct answer instead of the "helpful" answer.
The Correct Answer or the Most Helpful One? - Fiel - 2010-06-04
direct answers are often the best. "Helpful answers" makes assumptions like you know what's better for that person than he does. If it's a stranger on the street, I just give correct answers. To family and friends, correct and helpful but only when I know their situation.