lang/en_utf8/help/questions.html

   1 <h1>Questions</h1>
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   4
   5 <p>A good way to help other people think about a subject is to
   6
   7    ask them a question about it.  Being asked a good question
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   9    can really help us put information together, evaluate our
  10
  11    existing ideas and create new ideas.</p>
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  13
  14
  15 <p>Asking questions that are specifically intended to help
  16
  17    others learn is known as <i>Socratic questioning</i>, named
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  19    after Socrates in Ancient Greece.</p>
  20
  21
  22
  23 <p>Socratic questions require you to listen very carefully
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  25    to the other person to help you judge and phrase your question
  26
  27    in a helpful, constructive, and hopefully non-confrontational way.
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  29
  30
  31 <p>Here are some examples of such questions:</p>
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  33
  34
  35 <!--Hidden comment: Someday I will include a great example dialogue here -->
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  38
  39 <h3>Questions of clarification</h3>
  40
  41 <ul>
  42
  43   <li>What do you mean when you say ______?</li>
  44
  45   <li>What is your main point?</li>
  46
  47   <li>How does _____ relate to _____?</li>
  48
  49   <li>Could you put that another way?</li>
  50
  51   <li>Let me see if I understand you; do you mean _____ or _____?</li>
  52
  53   <li>How does this relate to our problem/discussion/issue?</li>
  54
  55   <li>Jane, can you summarize in your own words what Richard said? ... Richard, is this what you meant?</li>
  56
  57   <li>Could you give me an example?</li>
  58
  59   <li>Would _____ be a good example of that?</li>
  60
  61 </ul>
  62
  63 <h3>Questions that probe assumptions</h3>
  64
  65 <ul>
  66
  67   <li>What are you assuming here?</li>
  68
  69   <li>What is Jenny assuming?</li>
  70
  71   <li>What could we assume instead?</li>
  72
  73   <li>You seem to be assuming _____. Do I understand you correctly?</li>
  74
  75   <li>All of your reasoning depends on the idea that _____. Why have you based your reasoning on _____ instead of _____?</li>
  76
  77   <li>You seem to be assuming _____. How do you justify taking that for granted?</li>
  78
  79   <li>Is that always the case?  Why do you think the assumption holds here?</li>
  80
  81   <li>Why would someone make that assumption? </li>
  82
  83 </ul>
  84
  85 <h3>Questions that probe reasons and evidence</h3>
  86
  87 <ul>
  88
  89   <li>Could you explain your reasons to us?</li>
  90
  91   <li>How does that apply to this case?</li>
  92
  93   <li>Is there a reason to doubt that evidence?</li>
  94
  95   <li>Who is in a position to know that is true?</li>
  96
  97   <li>What would you say to someone who said that ____?</li>
  98
  99   <li>Can someone else give evidence to support that view?</li>
 100
 101   <li>By what reasoning did you come to that conclusion?</li>
 102
 103   <li>How could we find out if that is true? </li>
 104
 105 </ul>
 106
 107 <h3>Questions about viewpoints or perspectives </h3>
 108
 109 <ul>
 110
 111   <li>What are you implying by that?</li>
 112
 113   <li>When you say _____, are you implying _____?</li>
 114
 115   <li>But, if that happened, what else would happen as a result? Why?</li>
 116
 117   <li>What effect would that have?</li>
 118
 119   <li>Would that necessarily happen or only possibly/probably happen?</li>
 120
 121   <li>What is an alternative?</li>
 122
 123   <li>If _____ and _____ are the case, then what might also be true?</li>
 124
 125   <li>If we say that ____ is ethical, how about _____? </li>
 126
 127 </ul>
 128
 129 <h3>Questions that probe implications and consequences </h3>
 130
 131 <ul>
 132
 133   <li>How can we find out?</li>
 134
 135   <li>What does this question assume?</li>
 136
 137   <li>Would _____ ask this question differently?</li>
 138
 139   <li>How could someone settle this question?</li>
 140
 141   <li>Can we break this question down at all?</li>
 142
 143   <li>Is this question clear? Do we understand it?</li>
 144
 145   <li>Is this question easy or hard to answer? Why?</li>
 146
 147   <li>Do we all agree that this is the question?</li>
 148
 149   <li>To answer this question, what other questions must we answer first?</li>
 150
 151   <li>How would _____ state the issue?</li>
 152
 153   <li>Why is this issue important?</li>
 154
 155   <li>Is this the most important question, or is there an underlying question?</li>
 156
 157   <li>Can you see how this might relate to ________?</li>
 158
 159 </ul>
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 162
 163 <hr />
 164
 165 <font size="1"><i>Questions adapted from Paul, R. (1993). Critical Thinking: How To Prepare Students for a Rapidly Changing World: Foundation for Critical Thinking, Santa Rosa, CA. </i></font>
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 169 <p class="moreinfo"><a href="help.php?file=writing.html">More info about writing</a></p>
 170
 171 <p class="moreinfo"><a href="help.php?file=reading.html">More info about reading</a></p>
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