Seriously, golf balls on a bus? Why not ask about a relevant problem to be solved?
Asking about an irrelevant problem makes it clear that this question is about your logical process and not about your knowledge related to this job. It's a way of isolating variables.
The actual golf ball/bus question is a bit too much of a cliche to actually use, though. I'd rather ask how many raccoons you could put in a battleship.
Oh, I get the point the interviewer wants to reach -- using size estimation questions to gain an understanding of one's logic process. But as a method of achieving that goal, I've found it's a poor instrument.
Suppose candidate #1 is unimaginative and cannot offer a reasonable response.
Suppose candidate #2 says "well, a golf ball is such and such size, and there is empty space around each ball, and the bus is such and such size....."
What, exactly, have we learned here? In my experience, nothing.
Having gone through this cycle as both a candidate as well as hiring manager (not my choice to use this line of questioning), the real-world results I've found is little to no correlation between candidate responses and accurate assessment of logic process. The false positive/negative outcomes were significantly higher, and the success rate for candidates into the positions we hired them for were mixed. Basically, these questions offered us nothing in finding candidates who would be successful in the position for which we were hiring.
If I were to ask a question such as this, it would be to gauge one's reaction to the question (assuming it's a stressor) and how they react. The response is nearly irrelevant. But I don't like the tone the question sets between myself and a candidate, so I just don't resort to this as a means to achieving that goal. There are better ways to get at that information.
What variables are you trying to isolate and why? And how does asking about golfballs on a bus or raccoons on a battleship effectively isolate those variables? What was the thought process used that led to that solution?
"Asking about an irrelevant problem makes it clear that this question is about your logical process and not about your knowledge related to this job."
1. But it doesn't make it clear (that my logical process is being tested). This problem fails in its purpose.
2. I don't have a set 'logical process'. I just try to do my job, and do what I need to do to solve problems.
3. You should at least try to come up with a reason why golf balls are being put on a bus. I don't know if I can engage the problem-solving part of my brain if there's no real problem I'm being presented with.
Well I hope you make it clear exactly why raccoons are being put on a battleship, so that the candidate has a clue about the kind of logic he's expected to use and the level of accuracy required.
Asking about an irrelevant problem makes it clear that this question is about your logical process and not about your knowledge related to this job. It's a way of isolating variables.
The actual golf ball/bus question is a bit too much of a cliche to actually use, though. I'd rather ask how many raccoons you could put in a battleship.