Analysis Without Paralysis: Framing and Testing Questions

by Charles Euchner

It's time to start making sense of the worldHow do you analyze the complex issues we face these days in business, government, education, and public affairs? How do you make sense of the "blooming, buzzing confusion" of modern life?In modern society, the ability to make smart decisions—in business, government, education, and community affairs—depends on assessing a welter of information and ideas.In this step-by-step how-to guide, Charles Euchner shows how to analyze complex issues in all fields -- how to develop good questions, brainstorm, identify variables that might explain a question, “operationalize” the variables, gather evidence, and assess various explanations.Euchner, the acclaimed author of Nobody Turn Me Around and Urban Politics Reconsidered (with Steve McGovern), shows how anyone can learn these skills. Whether you’re a student in high school or college, a journalist or an author, a business strategist or a family doctor, a sales person or a public servant, you can master all of these skills.Euchner, who has taught writing to undergraduates and graduate students at Yale and Columbia, shows all the essential skills of analytic This-or-That and W QuestionsBrainstorm to Open Your Mind--And With DisciplineIdentifying CausalityFinding Key Variables to Answer QuestionsOperationalizing VariablesUsing the Testimony of Experts ... and Ordinary PeopleMaking the Best Possible CaseAbout the AuthorCharles Euchner, an author and teacher, is the creator of The Elements of Writing. Euchner is the author of books on the presidency (Losing the Peace, forthcoming), civil rights (Nobody Turn Me Around), baseball (The Last Nine Inningsand Little League, Big Dreams), urban affairs (Urban Policy Reconsidered and Playing the Field), and other topics. A long time teacher—most recently at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation—Euchner has taught writing at seminars to corporate and education clients as well as author groups. Euchner holds a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University.

64 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 24, 2012

About the author

Charles Euchner is the author or editor of eight books. He teaches writing at Yale University and was the founding executive director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston at Harvard University.