Asking questions is overrated. Chances are, however, that if you’re an academic advisor then you’ve probably been told otherwise. You may believe that questions are one of the most powerful tools in your advisor tool box. Maybe you even have some favorites; the ones that really make your students think or lead to profound insights. Don’t get me wrong, an effective question can help students critically evaluate their issues and lead to resolution but just for once, let’s talk about the potential downside to questions.
A student-advisor relationship is created through dialogue; we converse with students in such a way that builds trust and facilitates the development of a strong working relationship. Students come to us for advice when they are confident in our ability to help them. Most advisors (I hope) have had some sort of training that focuses on basic listening and attending skills: eye contact, open and relaxed posture, reflective statements, etc. Questions are usually thought of as the conversation starter because this is how advisors spark interaction and gather information. Perhaps you even learned about the basic types of questions: open-ended and close-ended. When advisors ask effective questions, they help students process their own concerns, which may leave one wondering what the potential downsides could possibly be.
I think it is important to recognize that by asking questions, advisors may sometimes place themselves in a one-up position from the student, which has its downsides. Here is what I mean. For example, when a patient visits a doctor, the doctor asks questions to find out more information about the presenting concern and to assess the situation. As the doctor continues to ask questions, the patient begins to develop an expectation or hope that the doctor will eventually offer a diagnosis and prescribe a solution. Once this occurs, the patient is no longer in the driver’s seat because responsibility for the issue has been placed into the doctor’s hands. In academic advising, this process can work the same way.
After asking a few questions to gather information and assess the situation, advisors may start to ask questions that begin with “have you…” or “did you…” which means the advisor has probably transitioned from the information-gathering stage to the “I’m going to fix your problem for you” stage. The advisor has begun to offer advice. If you follow a prescriptive advising approach, then you may find nothing wrong with this method. If, however, you are an adherent of the developmental advising approach, this is the last thing you want to do.
When advisors ask questions, they can sometimes sound like an interrogator. This can put students on the defensive and create resistance, especially if advisors start to ask “why” questions, which tend to make students feel as if they need to defend themselves.
Another problem with questions can occur when advisors speak to students who don’t say much. Relying on what was taught in some training course, maybe the advisor starts asking the “all-powerful” open-ended questions to encourage the student to talk more. Perhaps the student only responds with short answers followed by long, awkward moments of silence that must be filled with…you guessed it, more questions! The advisor might start to feel anxiety about what to say next or perhaps the advisor feels pressure to resolve the student’s issue since the student doesn’t seem to be invested in resolving it himself. This is especially common in distance advising when students are not face-to-face; the silence seems extra painfully awkward because of the lack of visual cues and body language.
Questions, therefore, can be a way of maintaining power in the student-advisor relationship. The more we ask questions, the more we place ourselves in the “doctor” role and give students the impression that we are going to assess their issues only to later prescribe a solution. You are probably thinking “But if we can’t ask questions, then what do we do?” You will have to wait for another article in which I will discuss alternative techniques to asking questions. Ultimately, I think there should be a heavier emphasis on listening and understanding so that we have more intention and purpose behind the dialogue we create with students.
I think that asking people sometimes ask questions and then wait for their turn to talk. Proactive listening is more effective. Asking questions and trying to understand the answer can open doors that otherwise remain hidden. Without questions, we are only given a glance and can miss important information. It also engages people and shows interest. People love to talk about themselves and the right question, at the right time, really helps the communication flow.
Endless questions, without the effort to understand, is just burdensome and tends to confuse. Asking appropriate questions and then listening is a valuable tool. Otherwise some tend to project their needs and desires on others and miss out on understanding the orientation and needs of the person they are trying to help.
It’s important to remember why we’re asking questions too–our purpose will (should) change the kinds of questions that we ask. One of the most effective changes we can make in advising is shifting the focus from the advisor to the student. The advising then encourages self-reflection on the part of the student, which is really what it’s all about. Students should be making the informed choices about their lives, the advisor’s role is to facilitate that “dialogue” (as you mention) in which the advisors don’t necessarily have all the answers (no one person does), but might be able to help the student navigate a system they are more familiar with, as advisors. What’s important is the student’s self-reflection in that process.
Doug and Carlos – Excellent comments!
Hi Steven, this was really a cliff-hanger, I´m curious to know how you plan to avoid the questions in order to shift the responsibility to the student. By the way, I wonder if you use Skype or other teleconferencing software in your distance advising, to add more ¨data¨ to the conversation…? Since a couple of months we are available via Skype, students don´t use it much yet, they seem to prefer to come along than chatting/teleconferencing.
I primarily use the telephone and email…no Skype
I like some of the themes in this post but don’t know if I put the blame on questions in the scenarios. I think there is an underlying issue that drives the questions that leads to some of the negative side effects. One small example might be having a set agenda that you want to get through with a student. To progress your agenda you ask a lot of questions because that is one of the easiest tools to move the conversation. Is the problem that you’re asking a lot of questions, or that you’re not being open to the student’s agenda?
I agree that a heavier emphasis on listening is needed to make conversations more effective, however questions still become essential to express interest, probe for understanding, and to help navigate the student’s thought processes as a lot times they need help clarifying their own needs. Some of the best conversations I’ve experienced have been counselors who say very little but ask the most productive questions because you could tell they were listening to try and discover what was truly important.
Generally speaking, all academic advisors have a set agenda. Academic advisors carry out their set agenda of “synthesizing and contexualizing students’ educational experiences within the frameworks of their aspirations, abilities, and lives to extend learning beyond campus boundaries and timeframes” (NACADA, 2006). If we agree with the premise that all advisors have this set agenda, the real issue is how one goes about executing it.
Regarding those situations in which advisors are not “open to the student’s agenda,” perhaps another way of looking at these interactions is that the advisor is trying his/her best to carry out the mission of academic advising but is doing so in a less than optimal manner. We just need to do a better job of emphasizing listening over questioning.
Every student is a unique individual. Academic advising should focus on meeting the unique needs of each individual. Therefore, for flexibility’s sake, there is no right or wrong way of executing academic advising’s agenda; however, there are good, better, and best ways of doing it 🙂