To question means to seek, to ask, to inquire. Questions are interrogative expressions used to test knowledge, raise objections, dispute ideas, cross-examine other’s views, and to begin an analysis. They are the beginning of most inquiry and research processes.
Questions can be organized by use, fact elicitation, value clarification, meaning specification, and concept development. The holders of different world-views ask specific questions of interest to their viewpoint rather than from other viewpoints. For instance, a feminist would generally ask different questions than a “natural scientist” would. Different questions arise from different interests and values. If these values compete, for instance for power or resources, their strength and value become evident by virtue of who wins the power or resources. Paradigm shifts occur when previous traditional views can not answer current questions.
Questions help us seek deeper understanding of the world around us. They help people to understand meaning. Questioning can be seen as a transitional process where one is in transition between understanding and not understanding.
Ends In View
This learning activity is intended to provide learners with the opportunity to:
1. Explore questioning as an inquiry process.
2.Recognize the significance of world-view and accepted norms of power and influence within the questioning process.
3. Examine their own method of questioning in their nursing practice and study.
4. Recognize questioning as the key to the process of nursing inquiry.
3.READ: Zwann, S. & Koechlin, C. (2005). Questioning Success. American Association of School Librarians, 12th National Conference and Exhibition, Pittsburg, PA. October 6 – 9.
In Practice
1. In class, discuss possible questions that come to mind after reading the following passage:
“The transpersonal caring moment becomes part of the past life history of both
persons and presents both with new opportunities. Such an understanding is
based upon a belief that we learn from one another how to be human, by
identifying ourselves with others or by finding their dilemma in ourselves, and
by connecting with the universal human experience. What we all learn from this
is self-knowledge and deep wisdom. The self we learn about or discover is every
self; it is universal - the human self. We learn to recognize ourselves in others.
This connectedness with other, and yet beyond self and other, keeps alive our common
humanity. It helps us to stay connected with the human spirit, helping us to avoid
reducing the human being to an object, separate from spirit of self and from the
spirit of the wider universe."
(Watson, 1999, p. 117).
a) Think of questions related to know facts.
b) Think of questions related to values.
c) Think of questions pertaining to concepts such as meaning or understanding.
d) What questions can you ask about caring and nursing practice?
e) How did this questioning help you to identify underlying beliefs, values and assumptions?
f) How did this questioning prompt you to engage in discussion or dialogue?
g) Which questions were based on nursing theory?
h) How would the responses to your questions indicate power? For instance, the willingness to listen, granting permission to ask, and dismissal or silence?
2. Engage in class discussion on the assigned Shelef reading. What is meant by “heuristic questioning”? Is this relevant to nursing? Why?
3.Describe the torrent of emotions and the paradigm stance that is exhibited by the women in Shelef's study. What traditional paradigm is being tested in this study? How did this affect the way the researcher used questioning to investigate the situation?
4.What are the researcher’s tasks and goals during heuristic incubation?
5.Examine the final statement in this reading:
"It is the interaction of the researcher wanting to know and the co-researcher wanting to tell that can in itself create a simple paradigm for scientific knowing."
What thoughts and questions come to mind as you contemplate this statement?
6. Use the worksheets provided in the Zwann & Koechlin reading to explore questioning in nursing.
In Reflection
1. How do nurses use the art of questioning to relate to and care for their clients?
2. How do you as a human being use questioning to make sense of your world?
3. Are your questions ever censored? If so, by whom?
References
Ikuenobe, P. (2001). Questioning as an epistemic process of critical thinking. Educational philosophy and theory, 33 (3 & 4), 325 – 341.
Shelef, L.O. (1994). A simple qualitative paradigm: The asking and the telling. The Qualitative Report, 2 (1), Spring,
Watson, J. (1999). Postmodern Nursing and beyond. New York: Churchill Livingstone.
Zwann, S. & Koechlin, C. (2005). Questioning Success. American Association of School Librarians, 12th National Conference and Exhibition, Pittsburg, PA. October 6 – 9.
Concept Mapping: How to Start Your Term Paper Research
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