I'll add that there's a whole other dimension to this. People often ask leading questions with the Socratic approach. For the vast majority of folks, their experience with leading questions involves either:
1. A trap
2. Someone who wants to tell them something but insists on doing it via questions.
3. Both
An example of 2 above is when A (e.g. a manager) is upset at B (an employee), but won't go into the details, but instead keeps asking "You did X. What do you think person Y thinks of this?" and a lot of "Why" questions. In practice, this has a high failure rate: B is often annoyed, and A failed to adequately express the problem.
I've been guilty of doing this, and I've often had people tell me after I ask a question "It sounds like you have something on your mind. Why don't you express it?" Less polite people (including me) have said "I'm interested in a dialogue, not a one-way set of questions. I have better things to do than answer questions. If you have something to say, I suggest you start saying it. "
Communications and negotiations books universally tell you not to ask leading questions. Ask questions only for clarification or out of genuine curiosity. For everything else, express concerns openly - don't ask questions.
Anyway - the point of this side note is: Often when people use the Socratic method, they use leading questions.
1. A trap
2. Someone who wants to tell them something but insists on doing it via questions.
3. Both
An example of 2 above is when A (e.g. a manager) is upset at B (an employee), but won't go into the details, but instead keeps asking "You did X. What do you think person Y thinks of this?" and a lot of "Why" questions. In practice, this has a high failure rate: B is often annoyed, and A failed to adequately express the problem.
I've been guilty of doing this, and I've often had people tell me after I ask a question "It sounds like you have something on your mind. Why don't you express it?" Less polite people (including me) have said "I'm interested in a dialogue, not a one-way set of questions. I have better things to do than answer questions. If you have something to say, I suggest you start saying it. "
Communications and negotiations books universally tell you not to ask leading questions. Ask questions only for clarification or out of genuine curiosity. For everything else, express concerns openly - don't ask questions.
Anyway - the point of this side note is: Often when people use the Socratic method, they use leading questions.