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Throughout ‘Finding out about others: the skill of questioning’ (Hargie, 2011), it is apparent that the main aim of the text is to inform the reader about the importance of questions. Before reading, questioning seemed like a simple and easily used technique. However, it is evident that it is more complex and intricate than it may seem. Main themes throughout the chapter include what questions themselves are; the comparison of different question types; and the effects of questions on certain groups, such as children and patients.

One example of a claim which was made is the idea that patients are less inclined to ask their doctors questions during consultations. West (1983) found that in 773 questions recorded over 21 consultations, only 9% came from the patients. Research has discovered that this is due to fear of seeming ignorant and unknowledgeable (Roter and Hall, 2006). Morrow et al (1993) showed that patients were a lot more inclined to ask their pharmacist questions – indicating that people feel that pharmacists are more approachable.

One argument presented in the chapter is the idea that answering questions and the skill of questioning is present in every form of social interaction. Especially for children, it is vitally important that questions are taken seriously and heard. Without this key listening, children my feel stupid and irrelevant. This could hinder their future learning and relationships.

One part of the chapter which I disagreed with was the area surrounding process and recall questions. Studies have shown that process questions are asked less regularly than recall questions; this has conjugated some mixed feelings. It is argued that process questions are beneficial for creativity and increased scope – researchers believe that children should be faced with these questions more often. However, I disagree; I believe that both question form is as important as the other. Children should be asked both question types; this would ensure all thought processes to take place efficiently.

Throughout this chapter there were some words which I did not understand. I noted them down and looked at their definitions in a dictionary. I have now defined these key educational terms for future reference.

Reading this chapter has truly opened my eyes; I was unaware of the vast amount of different question types. I will now be more aware of the kinds of questions I am asking, particularly when on placement.

 

The main aim of this chapter is to inform people of how questions are a very important part of our daily lives. Without them communicating with each other would be virtually impossible. The chapter also looks at different types of questions and in what situations they are used.

There are three themes in the chapter which are teaching, medical professionals and crime. In this review I am going to focus on teaching as this is the theme that is of most interest to me.

Questioning is very important for young children as it helps them to explore, investigate and get a better understanding of the environment they are in. Having these questions answered with a positive response will improve the child’s confidence to ask questions and it will greatly benefit their learning and development. The chapter highlights the claim that teacher’s ask more questions than their pupils. A lot of research has been done to back up this claim. Research by Dillon (1982) showed that teachers ask approximately two questions each minute while pupils ask approximately one question per pupil every month. Before reading this I had never realised the extent of this problem.

Research by Tizard et al (1983) found that children ask a lot more questions when they are in their home environment. On average children ask 24 questions per hour at home compared to only 1.4 questions per hour at school. The big reason stated in this chapter to why children don’t ask questions in schools is because they are afraid of getting a negative reaction from their peers. I do not completely agree that this is the biggest reason. There are many different reasons why children might not want to ask questions at school. Some of these reasons are being shy or quiet, feeling they won’t get listened to by their teacher, they are worried about getting the answer wrong and they may not feel as relaxed as they do in their home environment when they are at school.

I came across some words in this chapter that I didn’t know the meaning of. I looked these words up in the Critical Dictionary of Education and have noted down the words and their meanings for future reference.

This chapter has got me thinking a lot more about questions and the impacts they can have on people. When working with children I am going to try to be aware of the amount of questions I am asking and will give children the opportunities and time for them to ask questions and not feel pressured into thinking they have to give the right answer.

References

Hargie, O. (2011) Skilled Interpersonal Communication: Research, Theory and Practice. 5^th ed. London: Routledge.

I have just finished my 3^rd week at UWS and I am enjoying it so far. I have learned a lot over the past few weeks and have been challenged by some of the new ideas and concepts. I can see how the skills I am developing will be very useful to me in the future- especially during placement next month that I am really looking forward to.

The module I was most worried about when I started was Situated Communications. I have never been very good at communicating and although I am getting better this is a skill that I have to work on. When I first went to Angela’s workshop I felt completely out of my comfort zone and nervous about what I would be asked to do. After the first few activities and learning the names of some people in my group I started to feel a bit more relaxed. The activities in Angela’s workshops are building up my confidence in communicating and sharing my thoughts and ideas with others. I have found it easier as the weeks have gone on to speak to different people and contribute in workshops.

I have found all the classes very interesting especially Digital Literacy and Maths. I had never heard or thought about all the different ways you can use technology to teach literacy and other areas of the Curriculum for Excellence. One thing I had never thought about before was using computer games and linking this in to literacy and other subjects. I can see how this would encourage reluctant children to engage and take part in an area of the curriculum that they usually don’t show enthusiasm for or that they struggle in.

I’m looking forward to the rest of this year and all the new experiences I will learn from.

The focus of chapter 5 is to portray the characteristics of questions, the differing forms of questioning that exist and the effect that the use of questioning can have upon different scenarios and situations.

 Within the chapter, Hargie stresses the importance of the use of questioning with regards to a child’s cognitive development. Hargie refers to Cook to further emphasise this point by saying, “It is important for the child’s development that parents take time to answer these questions (Cook, 2009).” He further goes on to discuss questioning within the classroom setting. Hargie states that children are less likely to ask questions within the classroom as they believe they may get judged by their peers. Hargie backs this claim up by citing several sources, for example he refers to Dillon who states, “Interestingly, one major reason given by students for their reluctance to ask questions in class is fear of a negative reaction from classmates” (Dillon, 1998). From personal experience, I can relate to this study as in high school I often felt reluctant to asking questions, as I would not like my peers to know that I am struggling or not understanding the given task.

Hargie then goes on to discuss patients and doctors. He discovers that similarly to pupils and teachers, the doctor (like the teacher) is the person who asks majority of questions during their time together. Hargie sited West’s study which states “physicians ask most of the questions and patients provide most of the information” (West, 1983). I both agree and disagree with this statement. I agree with the statement that patients provide most of the information and this is done so for the GP to diagnose what is wrong with the individual. However, I disagree that they ask most questions, from my own experience I have found there is a fair split between myself and the GP for question asking.

Hargie proceeds to discuss different types of questions and their functions. The discussion was focused closely upon open and closed questions. He describes open questions as requiring a longer and more detailed response. On the other hand, Hargie states that closed questions do not require a detailed response and are often short. From this, he believes that closed questions are the easiest questions for an individual to respond to as they may not require a lot of thought. I agree with the above statement from Hargie as I have seen this in action in every-day life, when being asked a closed question it is almost like an instinct to answer without using significant thought process.

Reference List:

“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 chapter five: ‘Finding out about others: the skill of questioning’ in Hargie O. (2011) Skilled Interpersonal Communication: Research, Theory and Practice. 5^th ed. London: Routledge, is to assist the reader to understand how using appropriate questioning techniques can assist a person in ascertaining information.

One of the of the themes in the chapter is about misinformation and non-verbal signs, how they can affect a response.  Another theme is that when it comes to questioning a variety of techniques used together can have a better success rate than using just one technique and can make a more effective communicator.  Hargie, discusses the converse of this also and claims that here is also some suggestion that there are occasions when just one, or two techniques used together has a more effective effect.  As evidence to support this Hargie states “closed questions are usually easy to answer” (Hargie, 2011), he goes on to state “In fact finding encounters, they are of particular value”.  As evidence to support his claim, Hargie refers to research conducted and quotes “In the medical sphere it has been shown that doctors are two to three times more likely to ask yes-no questions that any other type of question (Raymond 2003).  As further evidence he then refers to Morrow et al (1993) which found “Pharmacists were following the clinical algorithm approach of eliminative questioning for diagnosis”.

The chapter serves to emphasise that questions when used properly can help a skilled communicator find out the information required, however it also discusses how not all answers are true as misuse of questions or styles can influence an answer.  This serves as an appropriate reminder to not believe everything you hear!

In my opinion, the main aim of this chapter is to explore the skill of questioning in its entirety. This is done by taking a deeper look into the different forms/types of questions and how effective each type is in relation to communication. Depending on the scenario, different styles of questions could be the most appropriate in order to find the relevant information to the best standard possible.

The key themes within this chapter include education, healthcare, and crime. For each of these main themes they are being related to questions in that particular context appropriate to that theme. Also, in relation to each of the main themes, the purpose of questions as well as the types of questions being used/asked are analysed.

One claim made in the chapter is that “Physicians ask most of the questions and patients provide most of the information” – Brashers et al (2002: 259). Evidence used to substantiate this claim was from, West (1983), who found that of 773 questions identified in 21 doctor-patient consultations, only 68 (9%) were initiated by patients.

One of the theories presented in the chapter is that we see a person better for who they are by listening to the questions they ask and not just the answers they give. “Judge a man not by his answers but by his questions” – Voltaire.

On reflection, I don’t believe I agree with everything published in this chapter. One part I may disagree with is where it is stated that patients don’t feel comfortable asking questions of their doctor for the reason of not wanting to come across as ignorant. My reason for disagreeing is through personal experience of always feeling comfortable and relaxed when discussing anything with my doctor or dentist etc.

I was able to identify meanings for a couple of words I was unsure of by finding them on the Critical Dictionary of Education and noting them down for future reference.

Chapter 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.

Chapter 5 “Finding out about others: the skill of questioning” (Hargie, O. 2011)

AIMS

The aim of this chapter is to show to that there are a variety of types of questions and how these are put across by the questioner to the person or group receiving the question can determine someone’s answer. The subject of questioning is not to be viewed as straightforward, instead they should be viewed as interpersonal, core life skills; in that without them, participation within social situations would be impossible, there would be no sense of conformation and without this,  discussions would have a lack of control.

THEMES

There are many themes within the chapter, including: Social interaction of children within the learning process. Young people naturally ask a number of different questions throughout their time growing up in order to take their environment and create sense of awareness for what is going on in their life and what is going on around  them and their social situation. This can take form in their household. A claim is made within the chapter, where adults are highly encouraged to answer their queries to provide insight to what is being speculated, in confidence that their question is relevant and worth asking. However, questioning is used highly within Education, it is claimed that there is a negative correlation between questioning and self confidence. Children who are growing older do not feel as strong when asking questions than they were when they were younger. Daly et al (1994), in a US study investigated that in terms of question asking the following felt more at ease… males, whites, higher income groups, higher self esteem and those who felt accepted by the teacher. I agree with this claim, as from experience in high school, I felt reluctant to asking questions of my teachers because it was intimidating as if you were the only person struggling. Whereas, in primary school, the classroom atmosphere was welcome to questioning as that is what children do.

Within the health sector, doctors/nurses were claiming to be asking questions frequently, and not getting many questions back from their patients. A claim,made by Siminoff et al,(2006) that patients did not want to show lack of knowledge about their medical situations by asking various questions that are inevitable to a professional. I disagree with this claim as I feel that doctors are specialised within their field for a reason purely to help their patients and identify problems, rather than to be viewed as high in society.

Within the chapter, Hargie discusses the many benefits and drawbacks to using open and closed questions. It can be examined that seen that open questions enable us to go into depth; whereas a closed question leads to restrictions as the questioner is in control of what is being asked and cannot be manipulated. I agree that this is a valid claim and can be recognised in  social circumstances. However, I believe that closed questions provide direction to the conversation, whereas open questions can go off on  tangent, not relating back to the question reiterated at the point of the conversation. This can be proved by the claim made within the chapter by Smith et al, 2006 which says Their potential for structured control is one of the reasons that teachers use significantly more closed than open questions in classrooms

Reference list:

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