Asking Questions is Easy, Asking Great Questions is Hard: Constructing Effective Stack Overflow Questions

This paper explores and seeks to improve the ways in which Stack Overflow question posts can elicit answers. Using statistical data analysis approaches and reviews of existing literature, we pin- point three key factors that are found in many previously success- ful/answerable questions. We then present a prototypical sidebar for the ask page that leverages these factors to dynamically (1) evaluate the quality of questions in construction (2) display answer previews of relevant questions and (3) scaffold the identified factors to subsequent askers during their question development processes