Tasking the answer

It is USUALLY the case that the customer (tasker) has a "feeling" or an idea about the unknowns of the task. Extreme care must be taken to make certain that the tasker's ideas are not expressed in the actual text of the question.

Example: "My patient, an anorexic 24 year old female Caucasian, has vague and periodic symptoms of sclerosis of the liver, but no other symptoms of this illness are found. I think her problem is totally psychosomatic. Am I right?"

In this example, the tasking, itself, tells you what the doctor wants to find. It introduces so much additional information into the session that the viewer will find it impossible to keep a clear mind and be totally open to other possibilities. If such wording as this were to get to the viewer, there would be very little reason to conduct a session. Sadly, the customer, who rarely knows the mechanics of dealing with a viewer, will usually, either knowingly or unwittingly "task the answer" that he/she wants the viewer to provide. The viewer in such cases cannot work unpolluted.

See also, "Project Management Personnel" and "Neutral wording".