The many ways to ask questions

The art of asking rich open-ended questions is critical to the process of collective knowledge creation. New thinking, learning or decision processes can be created from a unique set of questions to perform specialized functions. Here are a few of these questions, categorized according to purpose: 


Discuss
Take it in turns to talk about your ideas, then [brainstorm....] 
Turn to the person next to you and discuss your ideas for two minutes, then [brainstorm, describe....] 
Discuss your ideas about [the subject] then... 
Share your experiences with a partner about........then.... 
Ask the person next to you a question about....... 


Decide 
If you were to be responsible for making a decision  about [describe the situation] what would you do and why?
What will you do about... 
[How, what, where, why, when] will you... 
Who will...? 
Integrate the [ideas, critical issues] into a single idea. 
If you could do anything you liked what would you do…. 
Choose one idea and give your reasons for selecting it… 
What would you now do if you were the boss? 
What will you start tomorrow? 


Generate ideas/information/opinions
List all the [people, things, stakeholders, parts, criteria, resources].... 
Describe what you [see, feel, hear, think].... 
Write a story about... 
In what ways can you... 
Think about and prepare a list of... 
Write down all the... 
Tell all about the... 
Compose a [letter, story, report, poem about... 
Type/write your ideas... 
In 25 words or less, describe....


Hypothesize
What might happen if... 
If you could invent the future what... 
What is your best guess?
If you were [name of person or thing], what would you do to... 
What theory could fit all the ideas you have? 


Judge
What are the benefits of.... 
Select and summarise the best [2, 3, 5] idea(s)... 
Rank this/the list of ideas in [ascending, descending] order... 
Which of these ideas would you delete from the list and why? 
Pick the Top 5-10 ideas and... 
What is the most important idea here?. 
What criteria will you use to... 
Write down a list of rules.... 
What criteria will you use to... 
Write down a list of rules to...


Modify
Combine the ideas... 
Choose an idea and improve it
Choose an idea and apply the following criteria (list of criteria) to improve it.
Modify the... 
Rearrange the following list in [ascending, descending, etc....] order... 
Make the [thing, subject, idea][bigger, smaller, longer, shorter]... 


Pattern
What is the pattern to the ideas/contributions?
What are the common ideas/features of... 
In what ways is the [subject] [the same as, different to]... 
Give another example of... 
What else is like this... 
What fits this same [pattern, description]... 
Describe similar [events, things, people, situations] that you..... 


Plan
Describe a project you will begin immediately (5 word snazzy title and 25-word description).  
Make a list of the first five (10) steps to get started. Respond like this....1....., 2....., 3....etc.
What are the milestones we wish to achieve. Respond like this (date 1: event, date 2: event etc.)
How will you... 
How you could (name of activity)... 
Prepare an action plan that describes [who, how, what, when, where, why]... 


Re-frame
Pretend you are........... What [ask a question about the consequences].
Reverse roles with... ….What  [ask a question about the consequences].
Do the opposite of.......What... 
Imagine you are a/the.....What...
Look at the issue from another perspective. ...What.... 
You are [name of a person, thing]. What do you [think, feel] about... 
Describe another way to.......What....
Describe what does not fit with……....Explain...  


Research
Conduct an experiment [describe the experiment] .Describe what happened in detail.
Explore the [topic] by [reading, watching, searching a/the] [CD-ROM, video, text book, Internet] and report back what you have discovered/learned.  
Go to page [number] of [name of text] and... 
Multitask with [another kind of software] and...  
Report back to the group about what you have found about...