What is the point of a question?

Earlier this week, I participated in the first BAPP Discussion Group of the new term, which was fantastic; I came away feeling psyched and ready for the last module. There was a mix of students from all modules, which made me feel a little apprehensive to begin with and I thought maybe I would just slip into the background and take a passive, listening role in the group. Once we had introduced ourselves, however, I was asked to start off the discussion with my thoughts about the topi of 'questions'. With almost 20 others there waiting to hear me speak, my heart started to race; I am quite nervous when talking to a group but I was forced to face a fear - it was great!

Do one thing every day that scares you

The way we use questions can have profound effects on personal and professional development, for example, during my research for Module 1, I came across a question that has shaped my whole inquiry. I found it in a book called Theatre Criticism by Irving Wardle (1992).

‘How can critics claim to know best when they cannot agree among themselves?’ 

When I began Module 2 and started searching for 'little wonders' to begin planning for the professional inquiry, I thought back to this question that I found in Module 1. This question didn't necessarily invite a definitive answer but it was so inspiring that it rippled into more and more questions, which became the basis for this inquiry.

• Why are audience members influenced by reviews?
• Why do reviews have much of an impact on ticket sales?
• What types of demographics tend to read reviews and from what sources?
• How can we trust the words of a critic?
• How are critics/reviews beneficial to the theatre industry?
• How has the rise of the internet affected the review system?
• Do we really need theatre critics? 

Over the past couple of weeks, I have used these questions as a basis to establish questions for the interviews, but what did I actually want to achieve from asking any of these questions? 

What is the point of a question?

I think the most obvious 'answer to that question is 'to discover something new', but that's not the only plausible answer to that question. We don't always ask questions for the purpose of knowing the answer. Questions can appear in many forms each with the intention to achieve something different, such as:

1. They are powerful tools for reflection to look back to learn from and understand a situation.
2. They can challenge our way of thinking, which encourages to process of ethical considerations.
3. They can be used for developing conversation by showing interest and building relationships.
4. They may be asked in order to help others, to inhibit their own questions and understanding.
5. They may just lead to further questions that have any of the above intentions.

Overall, the topic of 'questions' has really helped me realise their importance; the wording of a question is crucial to the intention or answer that is given. For the interviews, I want to ask each participant similar open questions that differ slightly depending on their field of practice or position within the industry. I believe that this will provide a structured system, which will highlight key areas that can be easily analysed yet still inviting their own narrative.

How did you develop your interview/focus group questions?
What questions have you been asking yourself during this programme?
What other intentions do you have for asking questions?

Please feel free to comment below.