Shota Ichihashi: The Power of Answering

After obtaining my Ph.D. in Economics in the United States in 2018, I am now researching microeconomics and game theory at Queen's University in Canada. In my research life, I have many opportunities to answer questions, such as during lectures and paper presentations. I have always been poor at both asking and answering questions, and until recently, I used to pray that no questions would come up during my presentations. However, I feel I have finally grasped the knack for answering questions, so I would like to share it with everyone.

The first point is not to interrupt until the questioner has finished speaking. It is the worst possible move to guess the content and answer while they are still in the middle of their question. Even if you have a perfectly prepared answer, you must hold back until the other person has finished. I sometimes feel the temptation to blurt out a prepared answer, but I bite my lip and make sure not to interrupt.

The second point is the courage to ask back if you don't understand. This inevitably happens in English. Even at a conference I attended recently, a star researcher asked back "say that again?" three times. If you ask back, the other person might rephrase the question more clearly, saying something like "I guess what I’m asking is..." Furthermore, no one takes offense at the fact that you are trying to understand their question.

The third point is to "also" answer things you weren't asked. This is surprising to someone like me who was trained to answer only what was asked in exams, but I think most people who are good at presentations do this. For example, regarding a paper, if you are asked if you analyzed a certain case, it is fine to say, "I hadn't thought of that, so I'll try it later, thank you." However, you can follow that up by saying, "But, although it's slightly different, I've done this kind of extension..." and talk about an extension that might be interesting, even if it's not directly related to the question. The audience members are allies who want to understand the paper, so as long as you are answering the original question, there is no harm in providing information that deepens their understanding. Also, since it ends with a positive answer about what you have done, it softens the less-than-ideal impression that you hadn't performed the suggested analysis.

The other day, when I presented a paper, I asked back until I felt I completely understood to avoid jumping to conclusions. After answering, I followed up by asking the questioner, "Does this answer your question?" The answer that came back was "No."