4a: Discussions

Four Types of Discussion Questions

1) Questions of Fact, 2) Questions of Prediction, 3) Questions of Value, 4) Questions of Policy.

Most Group-Work Boils Down to Either:

1) generating ideas, information, or options; 2) making a choice, often about how to solve a larger problem; or 3) putting an idea into action. - teams can be involved in more than one of these - if groups ever get off task, point them back to the goal of that group

Attitude

A learned predisposition to a respond to a person, an object, or an idea in a favorable, neutral, or unfavorable way. - most susceptible to change

Value

A person's perception of what is right or wrong, good or bad. - very resistant to change.

Agenda

A thoughtfully prepared list of the issues, topics, and questions that the group will discuss. - there is an art involved in preparing an ___ - it is not just a list of topics that come to mind.

Questions of Fact

These questions are phrased such that the answer to the question is either yes or no. - in trying to answer a ___ _ ___, make sure that all group members understand the key words and phrases in the discussion question. If you're going to be talking about terrorist attacks, make sure you define what constitutes as a terrorist attack. - even though the answer to many simple ones can be looked up online, groups may have to come together to discuss more difficult questions like, "Did John Smith violate our company ethics policy last year?"

Questions of Prediction

These questions ask whether something is likely to occur or may occur under a certain set of circumstances. - in answering ___ _ ___, groups look for examples of what happened in similar situations. - when investigating ___ _ ___, an appropriate agenda would be to follow these four steps: 1) develop if-then statements (focuses and clarifies the issue), 2) analyze the problem (causes, effects, and symptoms of the problem), 3) use evidence, 4) evaluate the quality of the evidence (is evidence recent and from credible source?).

Questions of Value

These questions concern Attitudes, Beliefs, and Values about what is good or bad or right or wrong. Thus, they usually produce a lively discussion. - ex: "Which political party in the United States produced the best presidents?"

Questions of Policy

These questions help groups determine what course of action or policy change would enable them to solve a problem or reach a decision. - these questions can be identified easily because answers to them require changes of policy or procedure. - discussion questions that are ___ _ ___ begin with "What should be done about...?" or "What could be done to improve...?" - these questions concern themselves with Questions of Fact, Prediction, and Value. They must judge evidence as true or false (questions of fact). They must ponder whether the proposed solution will be effective in the future (Questions of Prediction). Their attitudes, beliefs, and values (Questions of Value) will influence the decisions they make on _x_ changes (___ _ _x_). - a well written ___ _ ___ should: 1) imply that a problem exists, 2) should be limited in scope (make questions specific, thus manageable), and 3) it should be controversial enough to spark discussion. - ex: "what should be done to improve the quality of education in U.S. colleges and universities?"

Belief

What one holds to be true and/or false, thus leading to how we perceive our reality. - ex: "If you believe in God, you have structured your reality to assume that God exists. If you do not believe in God, you have structured your perception of what is true and false so that God is not part of your reality."