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Questioning

What are they and uses?

Classification & Socratic Questions

Open and Closed

Chunking

Information seeking and probing

Leading and Hypothetical

Using in class

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Questioning

What are they?

Questioning has a long and successful history in training. The technique has a long and illustrious

history dating back ,500 years to ancient Greece. Socrates was the master and his style is still

extensively used today. He used questions to clarify issues, check assumptions, identify contradictions,

seek information and generally extend thinking boundaries. The questions started with words such as

who, what, where, when, why, which and how. It is interesting that even in todays classes, up to 50%

of class time is used for questioning.

What are they used for?

Questions can be used to:

1. Seek information,

. Clarify information,

3. Seek reasons for,

4. Challenge ideas,

5. Seek connections between ideas,

6. Probe issues,

7. Test assumptions,

8. Test strength of feeling,

9. Identify and encounter feelings and attitudes,

10. Stretch the creative matter, see Right Brain /Left Brain File.

Fig 13.01 Master of the Question!
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Questioning

Question Categories.

Questions have now been categorised by what they seek to achieve.

Socratic questions.

Open and closed.

Chunking/funnel up.

Chunking/funnel down.

Information-seeking.

Probing questions.

Rhetorical questions.

Leading questions.

Hypothetical questions.

Socratic questions.

Socratic questions have been outlined above and it is recommended that you spent a few moments

researching the style by undertaking a Google search with the words Socratic questioning. There is a

close resemblance between his, Socrates, style and probing questions.

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Questioning

Open and Closed Questions.

Open questions are those that allow the person respond with quite an amount of information. Typical

examples are:

Give me as many reasons why..?

Tell me more about.

Expand on your idea of

Why did you select those standards?

Explain exactly when you got the idea.

Uses

Opening a conversation

Finding detail

Allowing the trainee expand his/her ideas

Expression of assumptions

Explanation or rationale of an approach or process

Closed questions are questions in which the response is one word, often yes or no, then , now,

181. There is no space for more detail. Typical examples are:

Are you happy with the .?

How many litres are used in ?

Is it true to say that .. ?

Can I trust you ?

Is your judgment always right ?

Uses

Testing understanding

Getting exact information

Measuring knowledge of the basics

Forcing a firm answer

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Questioning

Chunking questions.

Two positions are present: (1) there is a large idea with many constituents; and () there are many

small ideas building up to a large idea. The chunking strategy involves either segregating out the

elements from which it is constructed or reassembling the pieces into the larger construction. Its

called chunking down if you are segregating out small ideas. Chunking up is used when you are

querying from the small pieces to the large.

Lets take a simple example, the car. It is a complex structure made up of many parts. Chunking down

is examining the car to identify its parts, functions etc. and segregating them out, say, for individualexamination. Chunking up is identifying the parts and querying how they are assembled into a greater

structure. There is a similarity between this and the behaviours Analysis and Synthesis. See: Taxonomy

of Educational Objectives, B. Bloom et al.

Other terms used in this approach are funnel up and funnel down questions.

Typical examples of chunking up questions are:

Which elements make up the concept of..?

How are rising demand and falling prices linked?When you join poor staff relationships with low productivity and high absenteeism, what does

this tell you about the business? How would you develop a plan to tackle the problem.

We need to make better gross margin figures. What factors are linked to this and what do we have

to do?

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Fig 13.02 Chunking down

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Questioning

Typical examples of chunking down questions are:

Your business has a gross margin of $100,000. Which features are considered in this ratio?

Based on the graph of the daily output supplied by management, what are the effective

component parts?

If the engine is not working well, which systems of the motor would you immediately suspect

when analysing the problem?

Chunking Up Chunking Down

Broad understanding of the problem

Going from the more abstract

Constructing the bigger picture

Identifying any gaps in the knowledge

Getting to the detail

Analysing issues

Broad understanding of the problem

Identifying the links

Structuring ideas

Dissecting the bigger picture

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Fig 13.03 Chunking up!

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Questioning

Information-seeking questions

In this case, the trainer is seeking information to determine whether the trainee can remember

the content, understand and justify connections, analyses, creations, options and decisions. In this

category, both open and closed questions can be used.

Typical questions in this category are:

What are the rules governing demand?

Tell me more about the way you handled the problem.

Explain the ideas that guided you to select the red one.

Uses

Checking that the trainee understands the core subject matter

Offering trainee an opportunity to speak out and discuss

Checking understanding and ability to relate theory to practice

Checking trainees thinking processes

Indicating to the trainee that you are listening

Probing questions test the trainees complete understanding of knowledge that has been acquired,

used and reconstructed. The trainer can probe for basic understanding, knowledge of detail,

assumptions, connections of ideas, opinions, unquestioned beliefs, questioning the evidence or

reasons, justification, conclusions of a study, consistency of the elements and rationales.

Typical probing questions are:

State clearly and exactly what you mean?

In the last session you were of the opinion that .. Why have you now changed your position?If the theory states that the demand will fall with rising prices, how is that in the case of some

goods rising prices stimulate demand? Explain the contradiction.

Explain how this is in harmony with the theory?

Uses

Getting the trainee to be precise

Forcing the trainee to connect ideas across theory and reality

Helps thinking on the feet

Encourages the trainee to be critical of his/her own work

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Questioning

Leading questions

The leading question has the answer almost built into the question. If the trainer is trying to assist the

trainee (a) see a connection not yet seen or (b) making the answer obvious; this question type should

be avoided in most instances.

Typical leading questions are:

If the class agrees that this is the situation, do you not agree that they must be right?

It is said that the car was travelling very fast. Can you explain this?

Do you agree that poor morale is not caused by the bosss drinking.

Hypothetical questions

These questions are asked out of interest and may be used as triggers to have the trainee consider

something a little more closely. It can be a stimulus for further thought. Some examples are:

Suppose this were not the case. What would you do?

If you had played the tall player on the small guy, couldnt you have won by a huge margin?

Instead, you lost. How do you explain this?I really and truly believe that if the wind had been in our favour we would have won, can you see

any reason why we lost?

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Questioning

Use in the Class

There are several ground rules regarding asking questions in the classroom. Better results can be

obtained when they are followed.

When asking a question, ask it clearly and accurately. There should be no double questions built

into one question,

Avoid hypothetical questions.

You may nominate a person to answer the question, called nominate and ask.

You may ask the question and let it hang for 3 to 4 seconds before seeking either the class or an

individual to answer it. This is called ask and nominate.

Distribute the questions evenly. Do not always ask the same few people.

When a question is answered, be ready with follow-up or supplementary questions based on the

answer.

Follow-up or supplementary questions can be probing or open questions.

You are advised to have a reservoir of questions for each circumstance you have planned within the

program. They are as useful to you as feedback as they are learning devices for the trainee.

Simple Strategy

Every trainer should have a very simple strategy for asking questions in any situation. The same

ground rules apply to those chairing meetings. The following is such a strategy.

Questions to check understanding of the technology

Questions to have trainees explain in their own words all manner of subject matter

Questions to use in resolving focussed technical problems.

Questions to have trainees justify positions.

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Fig 13.04 Question Banks

Documents

Resource 13