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Using Different Types of Questions to Further Dialogue1  

Questioning methods can foster reflection, inquiry, and critical thinking. Timely questioning can encourage conflict exploration and perspective taking from multiple points of view. Being mindful of what type of questions to ask and how to go about asking them (logic and sequence) facilitates and promotes critical dialogic engagement. Although some questions may ask for assumptions or evidence, other questions may help the conversation move to the affective level. When developing questions in preparation for a session, it is important to consider how participants might respond. Davis (1993), Brookfield and Preskill (1999, 2005), and Study Circles Resource Center (2006) offer some helpful tips: (1) order or sequence questions to help participants work through the question (for example, from specific to general, from personal to institutional, from simple [recall an event or definition] to complex [cause-effect relationships]); (2) use open-ended questions to probe for how and why, inviting participants to think about their beliefs; (3) ask one question at a time; (4) use questions that encourage participant-to-participant interaction; and (5) balance the types of questions used to foster and deepen the dialogue. For example:   Affective  questions.  How does this make you feel? What bothers (or excites) you the most about this?   Clarifying  questions.  What do you mean by that? Could you explain what you just said a bit more? What don’t you agree with X?   Assumptive  questions.  What seems to be the key assumption here? What could be assumed instead?   Relational  or  linking  questions.  How does what you are saying relate to what was said earlier?   Viewpoint  and  perspective  questions.  Can you help us understand the reasons behind your opinion? How might others see this issue? How do the readings help us think about this issue?   Ask  for  more  evidence.  How do you know that? What is the basis for your observation?   Cause-­‐and-­‐effect  questions.  How do the media and religious institutions influence how people feel about this issue? How does the labor market affect the influx of immigrants?   Summary  and  synthesis  questions.  How can you summarize what has been said?   Closure  questions.  What have you heard today that has made you think, hit home, or touched you in some way? What do we need from each other to continue this conversation?

1 From Zuñiga, Nagda, Chesler & Cytron-Walker. (2007). Intergroup dialogue in higher education. Meaningful dialogue for social justice (pp.104 - 5). San Francisco, CA:Jossey-Bass.