The core trouble of feedback

Here is one more proof of the fact that I am a liar simply because I am asking for feedback.

If I ask someone for feedback and if I do so honestly, that means I am asking, and I am taking the received feedback for what it is, namely others opinion, their true opinion, then someone could say: No, you are not asking for feedback. Or, one could even say: You are a liar. And, brave as I am, sticking to my promises, I will have to accept it.

This, of course, once more leads straight into a paradox which we all know as the The Liar’s Paradox.

Thumbnail of a questionnaire

A WYRIWYG questionnaire

If you think that this is a little far-fetched, well, I agree. (You see, I still prefer to ask honestly for feedback.) And then, just recently, I have received a questionnaire which I, for a change, was eager to fill out because I liked the people who had given it to me. But I couldn’t. Many questions were phrased in a way so that it was impossible for me to answer reasonably. And if I did I was sure my answers were to be misunderstood.

Comments are closed.