Compound question
Encyclopedia
A double-barreled question (sometimes, double-direct question) is an informal fallacy
. It is committed when someone asks a question that touches upon more than one issue, yet allows only for one answer. This may result in inaccuracies in the attitudes being measured for the question, as the respondent can answer only one of the two questions, and cannot indicate which one is being answered.
Many double-barreled questions can be detected by the existence of the grammatical conjunction
"and" in them. This is not a foolproof test, as the word "and" can exist in properly constructed questions.
A question asking about three items is known as "trible (triple, treble)-barreled." In legal proceedings, a double-barreled question is called a compound question.
".
Other examples of double-barreled questions:
The same considerations apply to questions with fixed choice answers, as an answer can also be double-barreled. For example, if a question asks: "What motivates you to work?", an answer "Pleasant work and nice co-workers" is double-barreled.
Buttering-up is a type of a double-barreled question. It happens when one of the questions is a question that the questioned person will want to answer "yes" to, and another that the questioner hopes will be answered with the same "yes". For example, "Would you be a nice guy and lend me five bucks?"
Some questions may not be double-barreled but confusingly similar enough to a double-barreled question to result in similar issues. For example, the question "Should the organization reduce paperwork required of employees by hiring more administrators?" can be interpreted as composed of two questions: "Should the organization reduce paperwork required of employees" and "Should the organization hire more administrators."
Double-barreled questions have been asked by professionals, resulting in notable skewed media reports and research pieces. For example, Harris Poll used double-barreled questions in the 1980s, investigating the US public opinion
on Libya – United States relations, attitudes to Mikhail Gorbachev
.
, a compound question will likely raise an objection
, as the witness
may be unable to provide a clear answer to the inquiry. For example, consider an imagined dialogue between a cross-examining attorney and a witness:
The question could not be answered with a simple "yes" or "no" without the witness implicitly confessing to the murder.
Compound questions are a common feature in loaded questions such as "Are you still beating your wife?" The argument is phrased as a single question requiring a single answer, but actually involves two or more issues that cannot necessarily be accurately answered with a single response. By combining the questions "Are you currently beating your wife?" and "Have you ever beaten your wife?", one can make it impossible for someone who has never beaten his wife to effectively answer the question, as phrased with a simple "no". Instead all questions must be answered, therefore the innocent man should say "I have never beaten my wife." Thus not only saying no current wife beating is occurring, but none has ever happened.
, Mitch Hedburg jokes about a supposed double-barreled question on his health insurance form: "Have you ever used sugar or PCP
?"
Informal fallacy
An informal fallacy is an argument whose stated premises fail to support their proposed conclusion. The deviation in an informal fallacy often stems from a flaw in the path of reasoning that links the premises to the conclusion...
. It is committed when someone asks a question that touches upon more than one issue, yet allows only for one answer. This may result in inaccuracies in the attitudes being measured for the question, as the respondent can answer only one of the two questions, and cannot indicate which one is being answered.
Many double-barreled questions can be detected by the existence of the grammatical conjunction
Grammatical conjunction
In grammar, a conjunction is a part of speech that connects two words, sentences, phrases or clauses together. A discourse connective is a conjunction joining sentences. This definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech, so what constitutes a "conjunction" must be defined for each...
"and" in them. This is not a foolproof test, as the word "and" can exist in properly constructed questions.
A question asking about three items is known as "trible (triple, treble)-barreled." In legal proceedings, a double-barreled question is called a compound question.
Examples
An example of a double-barreled question would be the following question: "do you think that students should have more classes about history and culture?" This question asks about two different issues: "do you think that students should have more classes about history" and "do you think that students should have more classes about culture?" Combining both questions into one makes it unclear what exactly is being measured, and as each question may elicit a different response if asked separately there is an increased likelihood of confusing the respondents. In other words, while some respondents would answer "yes" to both and some "no" to both, some would like to answer both "yes and noYes and no
Yes and no are two words for expressing affirmatives and negatives respectively in English . Early Middle English had a four-form system, but Modern English has reduced this to a two-form system consisting of 'yes' and 'no'. Some languages do not answer yes-no questions with single words meaning...
".
Other examples of double-barreled questions:
- "Please agree or disagree with the following statement: cars should be faster and safer."
- "How satisfied are you with your pay and job conditions?"
- "How often and how much time do you spend on each visit to a hospital?"
- "Does your department have a special recruitment policy for men and women?"
- "Do you think there is a good market for the product and that it will sell well?"
- "Should the government spend less money on military and more on education?"
- "Is this tool interesting and useful?"
The same considerations apply to questions with fixed choice answers, as an answer can also be double-barreled. For example, if a question asks: "What motivates you to work?", an answer "Pleasant work and nice co-workers" is double-barreled.
Buttering-up is a type of a double-barreled question. It happens when one of the questions is a question that the questioned person will want to answer "yes" to, and another that the questioner hopes will be answered with the same "yes". For example, "Would you be a nice guy and lend me five bucks?"
Some questions may not be double-barreled but confusingly similar enough to a double-barreled question to result in similar issues. For example, the question "Should the organization reduce paperwork required of employees by hiring more administrators?" can be interpreted as composed of two questions: "Should the organization reduce paperwork required of employees" and "Should the organization hire more administrators."
Double-barreled questions have been asked by professionals, resulting in notable skewed media reports and research pieces. For example, Harris Poll used double-barreled questions in the 1980s, investigating the US public opinion
Public opinion
Public opinion is the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population. Public opinion can also be defined as the complex collection of opinions of many different people and the sum of all their views....
on Libya – United States relations, attitudes to Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
.
Legal usage
In a legal trialTrial (law)
In law, a trial is when parties to a dispute come together to present information in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court...
, a compound question will likely raise an objection
Objection (law)
In the law of the United States of America, an objection is a formal protest raised in court during a trial to disallow a witness's testimony or other evidence which would be in violation of the rules of evidence or other procedural law...
, as the witness
Witness
A witness is someone who has firsthand knowledge about an event, or in the criminal justice systems usually a crime, through his or her senses and can help certify important considerations about the crime or event. A witness who has seen the event first hand is known as an eyewitness...
may be unable to provide a clear answer to the inquiry. For example, consider an imagined dialogue between a cross-examining attorney and a witness:
- A: "So instead of murdering your neighbour, did you go home and bake a pie which you donated to the Girl Scouts bake sale?"
- W: "No"
- A: "So you admit you murdered your neighbour!"
The question could not be answered with a simple "yes" or "no" without the witness implicitly confessing to the murder.
Compound questions are a common feature in loaded questions such as "Are you still beating your wife?" The argument is phrased as a single question requiring a single answer, but actually involves two or more issues that cannot necessarily be accurately answered with a single response. By combining the questions "Are you currently beating your wife?" and "Have you ever beaten your wife?", one can make it impossible for someone who has never beaten his wife to effectively answer the question, as phrased with a simple "no". Instead all questions must be answered, therefore the innocent man should say "I have never beaten my wife." Thus not only saying no current wife beating is occurring, but none has ever happened.
In popular culture
On his album Mitch All TogetherMitch All Together
Mitch All Together is stand-up comedian Mitch Hedberg's second comedy album before his death in 2005. It is a recording of a performance at the Acme Comedy Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota from May 2003...
, Mitch Hedburg jokes about a supposed double-barreled question on his health insurance form: "Have you ever used sugar or PCP
Phencyclidine
Phencyclidine , commonly initialized as PCP and known colloquially as angel dust, is a recreational dissociative drug...
?"
See also
- Complex questionComplex questionComplex question, trick question, multiple question or plurium interrogationum is a question that has a presupposition that is complex. The presupposition is a proposition that is presumed to be acceptable to the respondent when the question is asked. The respondent becomes committed to this...
- Entailment (pragmatics)Entailment (pragmatics)In pragmatics , entailment is the relationship between two sentences where the truth of one requires the truth of the other ....
- Fallacy of many questionsFallacy of many questionsA loaded question is a question which contains a controversial assumption such as a presumption of guilt.Such questions are used rhetorically, so that the question limits direct replies to be those that serve the questioner's agenda...
- ImplicatureImplicatureImplicature is a technical term in the pragmatics subfield of linguistics, coined by H. P. Grice, which refers to what is suggested in an utterance, even though neither expressed nor strictly implied by the utterance...
- Leading questionLeading questionIn common law systems that rely on testimony by witnesses, a leading question or suggestive interrogation is a question that suggests the answer or contains the information the examiner is looking for. For example, this question is leading:...
- Loaded question
- Mu (negative)Mu (negative)or Wu , is a word which has been translated variously as "not", "nothing", "without", "nothingness", "non existent", "non being", or evocatively simply as "no thing"...
- Persuasive definitionPersuasive definitionA persuasive definition is a form of definition which purports to describe the 'true' or 'commonly accepted' meaning of a term, while in reality stipulating an uncommon or altered use, usually to support an argument for some view, or to create or alter rights, duties or crimes.The terms thus...
- Poisoning the wellPoisoning the wellPoisoning the well is a rhetorical device where adverse information about a target is pre-emptively presented to an audience, with the intention of discrediting or ridiculing everything that the target person is about to say...
- PresuppositionPresuppositionIn the branch of linguistics known as pragmatics, a presupposition is an implicit assumption about the world or background belief relating to an utterance whose truth is taken for granted in discourse...