Training - Training small groups - Effective questioning

Questioning is an essential skill for trainers and it is important to become confident at asking questions. At the beginning of training questioning enables the trainer to assess what participants already know and what they need to learn.

Reasons for asking questions during training include:

* to focus attention on a certain topic

* to encourage interest

* to promote activity

* to check for understanding

* to encourage participants to think about a particular point

* to assess participants progress

* to get participants to evaluate their own skills and knowledge (something I will be looking at in a future article)

You can think of questions prior to a training session, in which case you should ensure that you know the answers, or they may arise during the course of training.

There are many types of questions that you can use to ensure understanding and involve participants.

Direct
These are aimed at one person to check their understanding. You will need to take into account that focusing on one person can make them feel uncomfortable, especially if they do not know the answer. Providing them with the opportunity to "pass" if they do not know the answer can reduce the pressure to respond.

Indirect
Indirect questions are presented to the whole group. They are used to check group understanding. One difficulty that may arise is that the group does not respond. If this should occur you might need to turn it into a direct question by nominating a particular participant who you think might know the answer.

Factual or Closed
These are closed questions which are usually answered with a very short statement or a "yes" or "no". These tend not to encourage discussion and are generally used simply to check progress.

Open
Open ended questions request more information from the learner and generally require more time to answer. They usually start with a "what", "when", "who", or "how".

Open ended questions are a good way of starting a group discussion.

Attitude
Attitude questions are used to check the feeling or attitudes of the group. As there are no right or wrong answers they can be useful for facilitating group discussions.

Reflective
Double check questions are used to check participants understanding by rephrasing responses. If the answer or response is not clear then double check questions can be used for clarification.

Tomorrow: Difficulties with asking questions

Future topics: Providing opportunities for practice; Encouraging participants and providing feedback

Mike Hitchen
Mike Hitchen Consulting