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== Guidelines for creating questions == | == Guidelines for creating questions == | ||
Here are some tips for | Here are some tips for writing questions and linking them with other related questions. | ||
=== Question labels and aliases === | === Question labels and aliases === | ||
The main label for the question should be quite specific, while aliases can provide more informal | The main label for the question should be quite specific, while aliases can provide more informal ways to ask a question. The main label should thus reflect as closely as possible the meaning of the query (and vice-versa). A good example might be "[[Item:Q153|''Which countries have a female head of state?'']]". While it might be more natural to ask about female presidents, female prime ministers, queens, etc., these are questions with different results (and should be treated as distinct questions). Another example might be "[[Item:Q320|''What movies were directed by Mira Nair?'']]", which is better than "''What did Mira Nair direct?''" for the main label as it specifies that we seek movies, not TV series, video games, etc., as reflected in the query. | ||
=== Ambiguous questions === | === Ambiguous questions === | ||
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=== Contingent and substitute questions === | === Contingent and substitute questions === | ||
Some questions might be built upon false assumptions such that an answer to the question (even if blank) might be misleading. For example, if we answer the question "[[Item:Q66|''What age is Stan Lee?'']]" based on subtracting his date of birth from the current date, this might falsely give the impression that he is still alive. To avoid misunderstandings, we can add this question, but link it to a [[Property:P32|contingent question]] "[[Item:Q61|''Is Stan Lee alive?'']]", along with an expected answer (in this case, we expect the answer to be true). We can further add qualifiers to suggest zero or more [[Property:P34|substitute questions]] in case the contingent question fails; for example, in case that Stan Lee is not alive, and a user asks his age, we can rather suggest to ask "[[Item:Q65|''What age was Stan Lee when he died?'']]" or "[[Item:Q67|''What age would Stan Lee be if he were still alive?'']]", thus avoiding misunderstandings. We recommend that contingent questions be added even if the specific entities satisfy the assumptions. For example, the question | Some questions might be built upon false assumptions such that an answer to the question (even if blank) might be misleading. For example, if we answer the question "[[Item:Q66|''What age is Stan Lee?'']]" based on subtracting his date of birth from the current date, this might falsely give the impression that he is still alive. To avoid misunderstandings, we can add this question, but link it to a [[Property:P32|contingent question]] "[[Item:Q61|''Is Stan Lee alive?'']]", along with an expected answer (in this case, we expect the answer to be true). We can further add qualifiers to suggest zero or more [[Property:P34|substitute questions]] in case the contingent question fails; for example, in case that Stan Lee is not alive, and a user asks his age, we can rather suggest to ask "[[Item:Q65|''What age was Stan Lee when he died?'']]" or "[[Item:Q67|''What age would Stan Lee be if he were still alive?'']]", thus avoiding misunderstandings. We recommend that contingent questions be added even if the specific entities satisfy the assumptions. For example, the question [[Item:Q143|What age is Justin Bieber?]] includes a contingent question, even though Justin Bieber is indeed alive. | ||
=== Broader/narrower questions === | === Broader/narrower questions === | ||
When a user asks an initial question, they might find that the results are too broad or too narrow for their liking. To assist with this, QAWiki allows [[Property:P41|broader]] or [[Property:P42|narrower]] relationships to be defined between questions in order to suggest follow-up questions to users. These relations are intended to have a specific meaning. We say that question A is narrower than question B if (and only if) any answer to question A must also be an answer to question B, irrespective of the current data. We say that question A is broader than question B if (and only if) question B is narrower than question A. (Formally this corresponds to the notion of [https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~paris/cs838-s16/lecture-notes/lecture2.pdf query containment].) As an example, a user might first ask "[[Item:Q354| | When a user asks an initial question, they might find that the results are too broad or too narrow for their liking. To assist with this, QAWiki allows [[Property:P41|broader]] or [[Property:P42|narrower]] relationships to be defined between questions in order to suggest follow-up questions to users. These relations are intended to have a specific meaning. We say that question A is narrower than question B if (and only if) any answer to question A must also be an answer to question B, irrespective of the current data. We say that question A is broader than question B if (and only if) question B is narrower than question A. (Formally this corresponds to the notion of [https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~paris/cs838-s16/lecture-notes/lecture2.pdf query containment].) As an example, a user might first ask "[[Item:Q354|What species are in the order Monotremata?]]". Upon receiving the answers, they might notice that a lot of the species returned are extinct. As a follow-up, they might thus ask a narrower question like "[[Item:What extant species are in the order Monotremata?]]" (or "[[Item:What extinct species are in the order Monotremata?]]"). When adding these questions, we can define a narrower relation from the original question to the latter more specific questions, and a broader relation from the latter questions to the original question. Another example is the question [[Item:Q202|Which science fiction movies star Uma Thurman?]], which is defined to be narrower than the question [[Item:Q421|Which movies star Uma Thurman?]]. | ||