Different Types of Questions

The art of questioning is one of the basic skills of good teaching. Through asking questions, we can stimulate critical thinking to the students. The art of thoughtful questioning can also help the teacher to extract not only the factual information from the learners, but also the genuine idea of them. In this article we will discuss the 5 types of questions that may help to improve your questioning technique.

There are 5 Types of Questions:

1. Factual - It is the type of question that is reasonably simple and straight forward. The answers are based on obvious facts or awareness and commonly requires one fact based answers. It is at the lowest level of cognitive or affective processes.

Example: What is the name of the little girl in the story?

2. Convergent - It is the type of question that requires inferences or conjecture. Answers to this type of question is usually within a very finite range of acceptable accuracy.

Example: What were the reason why the boy got mad? (This is not specifically stated in one direct statement in the text or story so, the reader must make simple inferences as to why the boy got mad.)

3. Divergent - It is the type of question that allows the learners to generate variety of answers. This type of question often requires students to analyze, synthesize, or evaluate a knowledge base and then project or predict different outcomes.

Example: In the story, what do you think will happen to the boy if he ran away from their home?

4. Evaluative - It is the type of question that usually requires sophisticated levels of cognitive and emotional judgment. To answer evaluative question, the students must combine multiple logical and affective thinking process or comparative frameworks. Answers in this type of question is analyzed at multiple levels and from different perspective to arrive at the newly synthesized information or conclusions.

Example: What are the similarities and differences between Erikson and Freuds theory of development?

5. Combinations - It is the combination of the types of questions above.