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Starting Up Your Own Self Detective Agency
Part 6 - Questions



Where?
When?
How?
When?
What?
But… why not 'why’?
Where would detectives be without a few good questions and a notepad up their sleeve? The same goes for SDs, too. The skill is to find out the best questions to ask yourself, so we strongly recommend that you take out of your toolkit any questions that start with the word ‘why’.
Why? Because ‘why’ is often seen as a threatening, accusing or judgmental type of question – and the answers you get are often defensive and wary.
Imagine how you might respond to the following questions: (and imagine trying to answer the questions without the word ‘because’…)

Q: “Why didn’t you tidy up?”
Q: “Why did you say that?”
Q: “Why did you spend your money on those things?”
If you find you are asking yourself lots of ‘why’ questions, you might want to change the wording. “Why can’t I do that?” becomes “Which part of that am I struggling with?” or “How might I do that?”, or indeed “What do I need to be able to do that?” Or perhaps there is no need for a question, when a simple statement will do: “I can’t do that… I will do something else instead.”

Snooping questions

Snooping questions can be a good place to start for a self detective. They can be by turns playful, informative and intriguing. While it’s unlikely that they are going to get you to any deep places or unearth any hidden gems, they can be stepping stones to a more advanced enquiry.
Snoop away…
Q: Which Mr Man or Little Miss might you be?
Q: What is your favourite thing to do at home?
Q: What is your favourite food?
Q: What is your favourite smell?
Q: What is your favourite film?
Q: Poodle or tractor?
Q: What is your favourite colour?
Q: What is your favourite song?
Q: What is your least favourite musical instrument?
Q: Day or night?
Q: What makes you sad?
Q: Hot or cold?
Q: What was your favourite subject at school?
Q: What makes you angry?
Q: What advice would your 12-year-old self give you?
Q: What advice would you give your 12-year-old self?
Q: What historical figure do you most identify with?
Q: Square or circle?
Q: Which character from a book, film, or play do you most identify with?
Q: How do you know when you are stressed?
Q: How well do you think you know yourself?
Q: Do you think you would make a good detective?
Q: Which one of these questions was the easiest to answer?
Q: Which one of these questions was the most challenging?

Direct questions

As the name suggests, direct questions don’t mess around: they get straight to the heart of the matter. Some general direct questions to keep in mind are the following:

Q: If not now, when?
Q: If not here, where?
Q: If not this, what?
Q: If not you, who?
Q: What do I see?
Q: What do I think and feel when I see?
Q: What does it make me wonder?
Below are some other examples of direct questions.
You may wish to try to answer them or you may wish to mull them over. Our suggestion for now is simply to read them out and decide which of the questions hits the nail on the head for you: which questions would be easiest to answer and which would be the hardest?
Who am I?

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