In what ways do question-response interactions turn up in your everyday life? How can poor questioning "technique" confuse or complicate these interactions?
I'm going to go with Stephen on this one and talk about work. I however, am usually the one asking the questions and I highly doubt I am asking "good" ones. I am relatively new to my current position at Young Library and only interact with co-workers and supervisors, not library patrons. Most of my questions are geared toward understanding my job responsibilities and requirements.
In my previous position though, I was the one answering questions. But these were more like "Where is patient X?" and "Did you page Dr. Y?" or "When is breakfast?" (I worked in a hospital...can you tell?) The only confusion or complications I experienced in this situation was if I couldn't understand what I was being asked due to language barriers.
In my everyday work life, I am responsible for training several library student employees. I have found that asking students to explain things I've taught is the best way to determine if they understand what they've learned. Sometimes when they aren't sure how to explain something, asking the right question can jump start their memory, rather than having to explain the whole thing over again.
In my experience at the reference desk, my question asking technique changed from the beginning of my employment to now. I am talking about the reference interview. In the beginning I would ask questions like "how can I help you?" and then immediately attempt to find exactly whatever they say. But after a good year or so of experience, I am now better able to ask more useful questions. For example, "can you tell me a little bit about what X means?" This way, even if I don't understand the concept, now at least I know where to start looking.
5 comments:
I'm going to go with Stephen on this one and talk about work. I however, am usually the one asking the questions and I highly doubt I am asking "good" ones. I am relatively new to my current position at Young Library and only interact with co-workers and supervisors, not library patrons. Most of my questions are geared toward understanding my job responsibilities and requirements.
In my previous position though, I was the one answering questions. But these were more like "Where is patient X?" and "Did you page Dr. Y?" or "When is breakfast?" (I worked in a hospital...can you tell?) The only confusion or complications I experienced in this situation was if I couldn't understand what I was being asked due to language barriers.
My response pertains to work as well. Working on the reference desk, my day is based on asking good questions to ascertain what the patron needs.
In my everyday work life, I am responsible for training several library student employees. I have found that asking students to explain things I've taught is the best way to determine if they understand what they've learned. Sometimes when they aren't sure how to explain something, asking the right question can jump start their memory, rather than having to explain the whole thing over again.
In my experience at the reference desk, my question asking technique changed from the beginning of my employment to now. I am talking about the reference interview. In the beginning I would ask questions like "how can I help you?" and then immediately attempt to find exactly whatever they say. But after a good year or so of experience, I am now better able to ask more useful questions. For example, "can you tell me a little bit about what X means?" This way, even if I don't understand the concept, now at least I know where to start looking.
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