First Order Ignorance Questions
Easy does it

Given that, by definition, with 1OI we know there is something we don’t know, a question should be obvious and easy to frame.

If I wish to thank a native speaker in St. Petersburg Russia, but I don’t know the correct word to use I would simply ask: “What is the Russian word for ‘thank you’?...” [1]

But maybe it is not quite so simple. One way of looking at 1OI is that having it means I must have considerable knowledge about the context of my ignorance. I cannot speak or understand the Hungarian but there are a number of things I know about this ignorance: I know about language (in general) and that there is a specific language called “Hungarian” [2]. There is other knowledge present here too: I must know why I need to speak or understand Hungarian [3]. But the challenge does not end there. Associated with the 1OI about the use of the language, to resolve it, I would have to face other possible sources of ignorance:

How do I get the answer? If I acknowledge 1OI regarding the Hungarian language, do I know how to resolve this ignorance? This is a process question. Clearly, in general, I would know the type of answer: get a Hungarian phrase book, buy a Hungarian tape program or take classes, move to Hungary for a while… But these are general solutions and do not tell me what book, tape to buy, class to attend, or how (and if) I can move to Hungary. So a good 1OI question might be: “…what is the best way to learn Hungarian?” [4] But there is another class of questions I might need to ask:

Where to I get the answer? Ok, I know I do not speak or understand Hungarian and, for some reason, I want to resolve that ignorance. I also know there are a number of ways I could learn this language, but what I don’t yet have is the answer to “…who should I ask ‘what is the best way to learn Hungarian?’” These days, this might be as easy as a Google search, though for similar consumer questions, there are entire organizations that assist people in resolving their ignorance about what is the best kitchen appliance, new car, or college to send my kid.

One could argue that not knowing the answer to these questions, including the existential question of “why do I need to know this?” means that one is very close to having 2OI

Situational Questions

Given the relatively low level of ignorance with 1OI, a good questioning approach is to pose situational questions. A situational question is one that posits a situation or set of conditions and then states the question needing an answer:

If <situation a> and <situation b> and... what would be the best solution?

This could be further qualified by choices in the question section:

...would you recommend solution 1, solution 2, or solution...?

Clearly, these question forms require considerable knowledge of the lack of knowledge and, in the qualified example, knowledge of the possible range of answers. Note that, if the response is something like: "...none of those situations are realistic..." or "...I don't know why you suggest those solutions..." it is more likely the questioner has 2OI rather than 1OI [5].

FOOTNOTES

[1] It is спасибо. However, there are at least 13 different ways of expressing gratitude in Russian. Since I am not a Russian speaker, I am indebted to thoughtco.com for this information. And so to thoughtco.com I say: ta, cheers, nice one, I’m most grateful, much obliged, that’s great, very helpful and I’m super appreciative, or as we otherwise know it in English: thank you…

[2] Of course “Hungarian” is the name of the Hungarian language in English. In Hungarian “Hungarian” is magyar nyelv

[3] In the (N)DIKW model, this knowledge would presumably reside at Knowledge or Wisdom levels—there would be some purpose behind any attempt to resolve the ignorance and I would (also presumably) know what that is.

[4] Note that there could be a host of other information I might need to fulfill the “best” criterion. There may be time limitations, cost limitations, the availability of classes, and many other factors.

[5] That means the questioning activity is really a 3OI process exposing the presence of 2OI.