There is no such thing as a neutral question.

Evaluate this statement with

reference to two areas of knowledge.

Intro:
A neutral question is defined as a question that does not direct or bias the
answer provided. In suggesting that there is no such thing as a neutral
question there is the assumption that all questions are leading. A leading
question is one which biases the listener towards a particular answer.
Therefore in order to identify neutral questions we must examine the
corresponding answer as it needs to be determined whether the question had
an effect on the answer. The first area of knowledge will be the human
sciences with a particular focus on psychology and the idea of leading
questions and counterbalancing in experimentation. Following this the area of
mathematics in reference to applied mathematics or pure mathematics. In
addition, the way of knowing language and its relationship with neutral
questions.
Main body:
Studies in Psychology support the existence of leading questions and their
obvious effects on peoples answers. Loftus and Palmers (cite) study on
witness testimonies suggests that leading questions can distort memories. In
an experiment they found that changing one word has a drastic effect on the
witness account and hence memories are distorted through language. In the
experiment they watched a video of the same car crash and then were asked
About how fast were the cars going when they (smashed / collided /
bumped / hit / contacted) each other? using different adjectives in each
condition. Results showed the word smashed made them estimate a faster
speed than hit which led them to conclude that changing the adjective
caused a change in perception of the memory. This shows the extent to which
solely one word can result in variations in the answers to questions giving
support to the statement that there is no such thing as a neutral question
given the existence of leading questions.
Language as a way of knowing contributes to our perceptions, the SapirWhorf hypothesis suggests that language will determine thought and that
categorization occurs through linguistic means. This supports the idea that
the way in which we perceive a question determines our answer and this acts
as a kind of bias. This leads to the question, in order to pose a neutral
question is it necessary to use neutral language? And is this possible or is all
language biased through tone and connotation?

In continuing the idea of leading questions there is the use of direct and cross
examination used by lawyers during a trial. The direct examination occurs
first and its purpose is determining the facts provided by a witness, at this
stage lawyers are prohibited from using leading questions as these may bias
the witness towards a given perspective. Following this cross examination is
used in order to either discredit or support the witness and consists of leading
questions in order to verify the previously stated information. By this
definition lawyers must be using relatively neutral questions during direct
examination of witnesses as they would otherwise cause bias to the witness
testimony; this disproves the fact that all questions are leading.
In Psychology and Business Studies research is often carried out on human
subjects, these involve surveys in Business to find out what the market wants
or interviews in Psychology to determine a hypothesis on behavior. In order to
get accurate results the questions asked during research have to be as
neutral as possible, suggesting that while questions may not be completely
neutral there are ways to reduce bias. During our psychology internal
assessment we carried out an experiment to see the effect of hand gestures
on memory, this involved telling participants a story and asking them to
recall it. In order to reduce confounding variables both stories had to be as
similar as possible in terms of plot, language, number of events or details,
length and subject, similarly in asking them to recall they had to be asked the
same question. This relates to the idea of neutrality of questions as in order
to show variation of one variable the other variables had to remain constant.
By this definition it would make sense that more neutral questions would
maintain variables which is to say use language that doesnt affect the
listener.
Sense perception is the way in which we receive and interpret information
from questions.
In terms of Mathematics one of the areas is known as pure maths, this
involves the idea of theoretical concepts that cannot be directly applied. In
this sense any mathematical questions in this area would be theoretical and
this lessens bias as there is no application
In contrast to this applied mathematics relates to real life situations.
Therefore in a question that asks you to sketch a graph of a persons
changing height over the years there is the logical assumption that the
values will increase which gives a bias towards the answer you give.
Conclusion:

Feedback:
a clear introduction - i like the use of real life situations - look carefully now at excellent essays
which require the implications of RLS's to be clearly drawn out as well as development of different
perspectives - cross referencing your two areas of knowledge - would quantitative and qualitative
data be useful to include?