I still think that if you want to know where X is on someone’s TODO list, you should ask that instead of asking for their full TODO list. This feels nearly as wrong as asking for someone’s top 5 movies of the year, instead of whether or not they liked Oppenheimer (when you want to know if they liked Oppenheimer).
It’s about asking the right questions to get the right info. I feel like your example actually disproves your point. In my perspective asking for someone’s top 5 movies of the year is going to much more accurately predict if they liked Oppenheimer than asking if they liked Oppenheimer directly. The direct question will imply that you have some interest in Oppenheimer and are probably expecting them to either like it or at least have a strong opinion of it. Their inference will then affect the accuracy of their answer.
There haven’t been many good movies released in 2023 so if someone doesn’t include Oppenheimer in their top 5 list then they probably didn’t like the movie and you know your question didn’t bias them towards any particular opinion.
I still think that if you want to know where X is on someone’s TODO list, you should ask that instead of asking for their full TODO list. This feels nearly as wrong as asking for someone’s top 5 movies of the year, instead of whether or not they liked Oppenheimer (when you want to know if they liked Oppenheimer).
It’s about asking the right questions to get the right info. I feel like your example actually disproves your point. In my perspective asking for someone’s top 5 movies of the year is going to much more accurately predict if they liked Oppenheimer than asking if they liked Oppenheimer directly. The direct question will imply that you have some interest in Oppenheimer and are probably expecting them to either like it or at least have a strong opinion of it. Their inference will then affect the accuracy of their answer.
There haven’t been many good movies released in 2023 so if someone doesn’t include Oppenheimer in their top 5 list then they probably didn’t like the movie and you know your question didn’t bias them towards any particular opinion.