Specific or vague answers to specific and vague questions

If the question is vague, is a specific or vague answer more helpful?

Actually, is either helpful?
Would clarifying the question (or scoping it) be a better response?

If the question is specific, a specific answer can be helpful, but a vague answer may help see the broader picture or help expand the view of the question.

Both can help or be useful in different contexts.

This feels like the opposite to the way to treat data. 

With data, we want to try and accept a broad range of options and return something specific or at least consistently formatted.

With questions, we want the question to be narrow (if not specific) and a potentially broad range of answers.

Now, how do I stop bringing all my thoughts back to software development? Or, more specifically, do I need to consider whether this matters?