lay that on top of

[unpakwon]

Please explain the following in red more easily.

As a mnemonic device to reinforce the critical elements of good questioning, I came up with the following equation:

2 + 6 over F x 4 = Good Questioning

The parts means this:

* Question with the curiosity of a 2-year-old.
* Use the six interrogatives---who, what ...
* Lay that on top of follow-up.
* Make sure to cover all four of the discovery areas: people, places, things, and events in time.

Is this saying "apply the 2+6 principle when you ask follow-up questions"?

Thank you.

 

[Raymott]

"I came up with the following" means that you thought of it; you invented it. Can we assume you didn't?
It's a rather silly mnemonic. As it reads (2 + 6) / (F x 4), it means that questioning is made better by (2 + 6), but worse by (F x 4), since "over" is followed by a denominator: you divide (2 + 6) by (F x 4). I would have thought that good questioning would have been enhanced by (F x 4) rather than diminished. They probably don't mean it this way, so they shouldn't write it in mathematical notation.
Where did you find this?

 

[unpakwon]

From "Find Out Anything From Anyone, Anytime" by James O. Pyle & Maryann Karinch.

The subtitle is "Secrets of Calculated Questioning From a Veteran Interrogator."

 

[Raymott]

From "Find Out Anything From Anyone, Anytime" by James O. Pyle & Maryann Karinch.

I suppose that if you trust just anyone, anytime to give you information about anything, you're asking for trouble!

 

[probus]

The art of asking exactly the right question in hopes of obtaining a desired answer is subtle, complex and potentially very profitable, as any trial lawyer will tell you. But it has to do with language only. Arithmetic does not enter into it. I suppose the authors understood that, and the arithmetic things were only mnemonics.

 

[Raymott]

Sure, but "2,6,F,4" should work as well.
Questions = Curious Ways For Discovery, where 'Curious' means curiosity, 'Ways' stands for the 6 Ws, 'For' stands for follow-up, and 'Discovery' stands for discovery areas.
I understand that we all have a different sense of what is silly, but if unpakwon can't understand the mnemonic, and if I can't make sense of it as it's expressed, you have to question the inclusion of these distracting elements. A more concrete objection is that you're more likely to "lay follow-up on top of the first two elements, rather than vice versa. Still, I suppose the authors will find some adherents.

 

[unpakwon]

Then it just means "ask or add follow-up questions besides (in addition to) the first two elements," doesn't it?

 

[Raymott]

Then it just means "ask or add follow-up questions besides (in addition to) the first two elements," doesn't it?

That would be a sensible thing to do, and it may be what they trying to advise. Whether it "means" that is a different question, since it doesn't say that. It's probably the "intended meaning".