Chapter Three

Question Aids, Question Sets, and Question Sequences

Questions Prompted by Taking Different Perspectives

Interdisciplinary inquiry poses questions from different perspectives on a topic. Traditional disciplines of study (like biology, chemistry, physics, history, geography, political science, literary arts, graphic arts, music, economics, geometry, statistics, and other disciplines of the academic curriculum) provide "lenses" through which you can view the topics of many different inquiries. So do the special perspectives of professions and occupations. Additionally, thinking about a topic from the points of view of different roles humans perform also can spark novel questions. For detailed treatment of these concepts, see Chapter Three of the book Pathways for Inquiry.

Kellie Carpenter’s Inquiry Project, Part 1, The Secrets That Lie Among the Wooden Boards, lays out her plan for inquiring into an old house. Kellie names the several perspectives she planned to take on her topic as she discusses the questions spawned by those perspectives.

In The Impact of the Great Depression and World War II on My Grandfather, Lorena Huerta describes her plan for inquiring into her chosen topic. This Inquiry Project, Part 1 names the perspectives taken and the questions that they prompted Lorena to ask.

Question Stems

When formulating questions becomes a chore, Alison King’s Question Stems are useful aids. See pp. 36-37 of the book, Pathways for Inquiry, for some of Dr. King’s question stems, reprinted there by permission of the author and Lawrence Erlbaum Association, Inc.

Question Sets and Question Sequences

A question set is a collection of interrelated questions that probe a detail or a conceptual category of meaning about a topic. Any collection of questions that speak to the same area of interest about a topic can comprise a question set. In the book, Pathways for Inquiry, question sets written by students explore the design of a theater in one case and, in another, the flooring of an historic house. Question sets are often derived from brainstorming questions that are focused on a selected aspect of your topic. For instance, in the inquiry into the Thoroughbred, Ready Lady, questions about her pedigree comprised a question set. The questions were formulated before many resources were consulted.

What was the racing performance of Hadif, her sire?
What was the racing performance of Miss Presto, her dam?
What are some indicators of potential for speed over distance?
How does the way a horse is "built" influence its racing performance?
What role does intelligence play for successful racing performance?

Aquestion sequence is comprised of several questions that represent a line of inquiry in which the first question is refined, developed, and/or focused by the next, and each succeeding question refines, develops, and /or focuses the inquiry further. This usually happens when a question leads you to resources that provide information to spark more informed questions. Question sequences can become Inquiry Scripts which capture and present the logic of your explorations.

Heather Smurr’s Canine Epilepsy Inquiry Script 1 illustrates one question sequence. Heather’s Canine Epilepsy Inquiry Script 2 illustrates another.


Additional examples of Question Sequences are found in Chapter Three of Pathways for Inquiry, and in Chapters Seven and Eight of the book and Chapter Seven of this companion Web site in reference to Inquiry Scripts.