Monthly Archives: January 2020

Independent Reading Task 21/01/2020

I believe the main aim of this chapter is to demonstrate the importance of questions in our communication.

A few key themes I have identified are:

-the definition of a question

-where we use questions

-types of questions

– why we use questions

-the effective of questions

This chapter uses other academic sources and real life situations to back up the claims it makes. For example Hargie claims that ‘leading questions’ have a significant effect on the response of children. Hargie goes on to cite academic sources who have found evidence to support this claim as well as a case study of a child who was being interviewed during the Orkney satanic abuse crisis.

I agree with most ideas and theories suggested in this chapter. For example, I agree that using structured questioning sequences (funnel, inverted funnel, tunnel) are more effective for encouraging participation from respondents than unstructured sequences as they are easier to follow and allow for less confusion. One might disagree with  the claim about the questioner being in control of the situation. To an extent they are as they get to propose the topic of conversation, however, later in the chapter Hargie states the types of responses that can be given my someone being questioned. One of the types of responses listed was called the ‘unconnected response’ where the respondent changes the subject completely. Another one listed was ‘silence’ where the person chooses not to respond. So it could be argued that these responses, among others, limit the power of the questioner.

At the beginning of the chapter, Hargie discusses the ‘Initiation- Response- Follow up’ theory. This is when teachers ask a question to their pupils who then give some sort of response for the teacher who then offers feedback on the response or build upon the given response.

Reference:

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

Communication in Other Environments

In my group there was not a ‘leader’ as such, we all had different strengths and ideas and all came to an agreement on the decisions that had to be made during the task. Everyone got along really well due to the diverse skills set which made the task really enjoyable. I struggled most with trying to keep up with what everyone was doing because everyone had a different role in the group i.e resource managers. However, I feel like dividing up the task made us efficient workers.

I feel like our group was successful when explaining our den to another group. We selected a single member of the group to be the spokesperson to avoid any confusion for the other group listening. The explanation we came up with was very concise to make it easy to follow along with.

The group that explained their den to my group also had a very concise explanation and a single spokesperson. This, for me, was effective as I did not have to focus on different voices and the short but in depth explanation kept me engaged and interested.

The outdoor environment definitely had an impact on the way I communicated with others. I intentionally spoke a bit louder than normal in order to be heard despite the noise of the other groups and the natural sounds round about us. The natural sounds were not unbearable and were quite easy to overcome, but i did find that gathering around the speaker made it easier to hear and allowed for less distraction. I, upon reflection, unintentionally communicated in a more informal way. As my group began to gel I became more comfortable with my group and managed to relax and enjoy our team task and have a good laugh.  I feel like the outdoor environment also had an impact on my relaxed way of communicating, the fresh air and space really boosted my mood.

My groups negotiations were not successful. We attempted to negotiate with many groups but they declined all our offers despite us having many different resources we were willing to trade. I think that the negotiations were unsuccessful because the entire section had become more informal and were not taking the task too seriously.

Overall, the task was very enjoyable as I got to mix with people that i wouldn’t normally and explored communication in a different setting.