2
$\begingroup$

I wonder if there is a way that members could review a question to make it more answerable? I know that this is done to some extent already, but for my question (How to construct panel regression with categorical independents?) I had already posted a similar question and taken it down and now have reposted it trying to be very focused in what I have done and where my issue lies. Yet, I'm not sure why it hasn't received any interest. I would be more than happy to re-work it as necessary, but would like to know what to focus on with regard to that.

How can I improve my question? If it has been viewed already, is there a way that members could display some interest but point me in a direction of improvement, by ticking off a field in a pop-up or something similar, when they view the question? It seems like members may not be as interested in commenting, but could this be a way to facilitate questions becoming better? I understand if its not a great question, but in that case I would have thought it'd be easily answerable.

$\endgroup$
5
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ It is not really my area but it strikes me that it contains a number of different questions. Perhaps nobody feels competent to answer all of them? $\endgroup$ – mdewey Oct 29 '20 at 15:07
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ I didn't see this originally but as in the rest of life whatever you do will be wrong from somebody's point of view. Sometimes I can read a question and think that I know what different question it should be, but in statistics it seems surprisingly common that OP and people answering are talking past each other. Many discussions here circle round "I want to do X. Is this right or can you help me to do it?" and "Why do you want to do X?" So, I would say it's more common here that people who answer lots of questions aren't clear what many questions are. $\endgroup$ – Nick Cox Oct 29 '20 at 15:44
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ In your case, you provide a lot of detail, which is often essential, but not always likely to lead to good answers. It's hard, but trying to reverse roles mentally can be instructive. Two points: 1. How much time do you expect people answering to give you? I want questions that I can answer in about 3 minutes, although I will often end up writing for 30 minutes if the subject interests me. 2. Can you imagine answering this yourself if you knew a bit more than you do? That's really hard, but the questions people want to answer are not really easy ones, but those with good focus and some bite. $\endgroup$ – Nick Cox Oct 29 '20 at 15:49
  • $\begingroup$ @mdewey Thanks for the suggestion. I've gotten rid of the coding component which could be perceived as a question in itself. $\endgroup$ – Jojo Oct 29 '20 at 19:58
  • $\begingroup$ @NickCox Thanks for the comment. I have tried to improve the questions focus. And as you pointed out, I may have made the mistake of providing far too much information. Hopefully the question will be better received now. $\endgroup$ – Jojo Oct 29 '20 at 19:59

You must log in to answer this question.

Browse other questions tagged .