Understanding Question Effectiveness: A Computational and Pragmatic Approach

Effective communication relies on well-structured questions that elicit informative responses. This study explores the relationship between question formulation and the informa- tiveness of answers, integrating insights from pragmatics, psy- cholinguistics, and computational modeling. Using a probabilistic reasoning framework, I analyze how contextual cues influence response quality and develop a predictive model for evaluating question effectiveness. Experimental results demonstrate that certain question structures systematically yield more informative answers. These findings contribute to improving question design in human dialogue, automated systems, and survey methodolo- gies.