Month: January 2020

I think that the main aim of the chapter is to highlight the importance of using a wide variety of different questioning techniques within our daily communication.

I have identified some of the key themes in this chapter to be:

• different questioning techniques
• the purpose of different questions
• where these different questions are used

Many academic sources were used throughout this chapter in order to back up all the claims that were made. An interesting claim by Hargie is that “questions are at the heart of interpersonal encounters.” This means that Hargie believes that being able to ask questions in a number of different contexts is an interpersonal skill which can lead to either the success or failure in different scenarios. Due to this I therefore believe that questioning is essential to help an individual acquire certain pieces of knowledge, that they may never have got, is required to become successful in their field. A theory which supports this is the ‘funnel sequence.’ This is when the individual questioning starts off with asking very generic open questions however, over the course of the questioning period , the questions become more closed and specific allowing them to pin point a definite answer.

I agree with many of the ideas in this chapter however, one claim that I disagree with is the process of questioning. I believe that the process is suitable for all ages including younger children, as they are just as capable but just need a bit more initial support  and time to help comprehend and provide a well-thought through, established answer.

Reference: ‘Finding out about others: the skill of questioning‘,  in Hargie, O (2011) Skilled Interpersonal Communication: Research, Theory and Practice. 5th ed. London: Routledge.

Group and Leadership

• Within the group there was not one clear group leader. Everyone all took part in leading the team in some way.
• It was informal as everyone was putting their own points across and everyone was ensuring they listened to them.
• For me there was nothing difficult about working in my group as everyone in the group were friendly and were all hard working.

Explaining

• In my opinion I felt that my team mates were very clear when it came to explaining what we were doing when building the den. if anyone was not understanding what was being explained them someone else in the team would try to help and explain it in another way for them to understand.
• When building the den I think my team possibly forgot the last part of the 5ps the postmortem. as once we were finished that was it done and we didn’t reflect on what we did well as team or go through possibly what could have been changed with the process which we used.

Environment 

•  Being outdoor I feel made our communication a little less formal than it would of been if we were in a class discussing.
• Changes I made when explaining something that I might not of used in a typical classroom setting was I was showing people what I meant by physically doing it and showing them exactly what I meant.
• I feel that being the outside we had a speak a little but louder but not too loud to the point of shouting. we had to speak louder to ensure that everyone was hearing us. a strategic which we could of done to make it easier on the speaker and listener was possibly standing in a corner to ensure that the sound is slightly being blocked out.
• The environment we were in could be distracting as there was so much to see. We could overcome this by ensuring that we are in a place which has the least activity so that people are not turning around to see what is going on behind them.

Negotiation

• In my team everyone negotiations were taken into consideration and were put to the test to see if they would work. If what was being suggested was going to work we would then have a discussion to see if we wanted to change it or keep it the same.
• I think that there were no challenges when making negotiations as everyone was listened to and there was good communication within my group.

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.  

The aim of the chapter is to explain the importance of questioning and the different types that exist. The three different themes that Hargie covers within this chapter are the different types of questions, the different impacts questions can have, and the importance of questions in the classroom.

One claim that Hargie makes within the chapter is that questions are key to a child’s cognitive development. the evidence used to back this up was “it is important for the child’s development that parents take time to answer these questions”

Another claim that Hargie makes is that without questions conversations and interaction would be limited. his example used in the text was a group of four having to discuss the events of the week and conversation was very difficult.

Another claim that Hargie makes is that children will not ask questions within the classroom environment as they would be worried that their peers would judge them. one way Hargie backs this up is by quoting Dillon (1998) who states that “one major reason given by students for their reluctance to ask questions in class is fear of negative reaction from classmates”.

One claim that Hargie makes that i do not agree with is that “some open questions place more restriction upon respondents than others.” i disagree with this as i find that open questions allow for more varied and detailed answers that you may not be able to get from a closed question.

Some words  from the chapter that i did not understand were:  presuppositions, corroborated,  multifaceted and stenographer.

Reference

Finding out about others: the skill of questioning, chapter 5- Hargie, O.(2011) Skilled Interpersonal Communication: research, theory and practice 5th ed. London: Routledge

The main aim of the chapter is to highlight the importance of questioning.  There were many different themes mentioned within the chapter. Some of them were the purpose of questions, types of questions and where questions are used.

One theory presented in the chapter was the “Funnel Sequence”. This theory starts with the questioner asking many open questions but gradually these questions are substituted for closed questions. This theory is effective because the structure gradually narrows on the vital information needed.

Open questions give the respondent choice in how they want to respond and they encourage the respondent to speak. These types of questions usually require the responses to have a lot of detail. This can cause problems because respondent’s responses can become time consuming and the responses may include irrelevant information. However, closed questions usually have one right answer. There are three types of closed questions: selection question, yes-no question and identification question. Closed questions are easy to answer and allows the questioner to have control. Usually doctors, interviewers and teachers use these types of questions. Although, closed questions can limit the respondent’s answer and this can lead to a short response.

I agree with the idea that children feel scared to answer questions wrong. The chapter states that “children assume that adults will ask reasonable questions, and so they feel under pressure to respond to the expectations inherent in these questions”.  Children do not want to be wrong or show that they do not know the answer.

Reference:

‘Finding out about others: the skill of questioning’, in Hargie, O. (2011) Skilled Interpersonal Communication: Research, Theory and Practice. 5^th ed. London: Routledge.

‘Finding out about others: the skills of questioning’. In Hargie, O. (2011) Skilled Interpersonal Communication: Theory and Practice. 5th ed. London: Routledge.

Broad themes from the reading.
– What is the main aim of the chapter?
The main aim of the chapter is to highlight all the different types of questioning. It shows how they can be
applied and in which settings they can be applied in.
– Identify three or four key themes within the chapter.
– Types of questioning
– How the questions can be applied
– Relevance of questioning
– The outcome of questioning

Claims and evidence.
– Use of evidence to back-up claims – can you identify any claims made in the chapter?
It is recommended that counsellors should use open ended questions which require a more extended answer. Strong
(2006:1005) noted that ‘a good counselling question is one that requires a lengthy pause to answer’.
– What evidence is used to substantiate the claims – discuss one example.
(Robinson and Heritage,2006) gave an example of when a Doctor asks an open-ended question of ‘What brings you in
today?’ This question requires an in-depth answer as opposed to a closed question such as ‘I see you have sinus
problems?
– Are there any arguments presented in the chapter? E.g. particular theory or idea presented within the chapter?
Sanchez (2001) cited a study showing that an average doctor’s appointment was 2.1 minutes and within this time
Doctors asked 27.3 questions. This means there is little time left to answer the questions, let alone ask their
own questions.
(Roter and Hall, 2006) also argue that people don’t ask questions of Doctors for the fear of appearing ignorant.

Analysis and evaluation.
– Do you agree with everything written in the chapter?
Yes, I do agree with what is written in the chapter.
– Is there anything you disagree with?
I disagree with the examples of why people don’t ask questions of Doctors.
– Pick one thing you might disagree with; what evidence can you use to defend this stance?
My reason for this is because I believe not all circumstances were covered such as the patients mental state of
mind, or their anxiety levels with worry about the outcome of the consultation. None of these factors were
mentioned and these would have an impact on the patients questioning skills, or ability to question, regardless
of their intelligence.
Knowledge and Understanding.
– What theories or concepts are mentioned in the chapter?
The chapter tells of the different concepts involved in questioning such as the Funnel Sequence which uses open
and closed questions. It also tells of the different scenarios when these questions are more appropriate, such as
interrogation, or the classroom setting.
– Try to explain at least one in your own words.
Both types of questions play a significant role in communication and finding out information. However, some
theorists such as Dohrenwend state that the answers to open questions can be quite lengthy and don’t provide the
information needed or required. An example of this would be in an interview or courtroom.