Chapter 5 is written about questions and explores key themes relating to this such as the importance of asking questions, techniques of questioning, the purpose of questioning and the contexts that questions may be asked in. Generally, the main aim of the chapter is to discuss a deeper meaning of why we ask questions and the role they play in our society. One of the first claims made in this chapter is that the ability to ask questions is a core interpersonal skill and that asking questions can influence success and failure across different contexts. What I understand from this is that through questioning a person can use questioning techniques to enhance their knowledge of a topic to increase their chance of success.
In this chapter Hargie also claims that including subtle leads into the question you are asking can influence the answer that the person being questioned gives. The wording of a question can indicate your own opinion and generate a biased response from the respondent.
Hargie also discusses that questioning can induce stress from the respondent, particularly if the questions are rapid (a technique used by lawyers to apply pressure to the suspect to catch them out). I found this section useful as he also advises that asking too many questions can evoke stress and anxiety in pupils which is not the intended outcome. I will bear this in mind when I am asking my pupils questions in the classroom however I do feel that asking several questions to pupils is very important in order to gage their understanding of the topic.
