Part II: Analysis of questions, feedback, and advice
15. Others
8.2 Results of the analysis of questions
8.2.2 Quantitative analysis of questions according to function
In part, the functions of questions employed by the coaches differ from those of the questions employed by the coachees. To account for this fact, I will present the results in two separate tables. Table 8.4 provides an overview of the functions of the questions asked by the
coaches.
Coaching 1 Coach I (15,352 words)
Coaching 2 Coach I (9,927 words)
Coaching 3 Coach II (15,979 words)
Coaching 4 Coach II (13,714 words)
Coaching 5 Coach III (11,008 words)
Ø
Items Items per word count/
p
Items Items per word count/
p
Items Items per word count/
p
Items Items per word count/
p
Items Items per word count/
p
Average items per word count Questions
by coach in total
66 4.30
χ²=
8.312 p=0.004
18 1.81 χ²=
6.634 p=0.01
34 2.13 χ²=
7.006 p=0.008
58 4.23 χ²=
6.342 p=0.012
32 2.91
χ²=
0.252 p=0.616
3.08
Doing small talk / discussing practical issues
2 0.13 1 0.10 2 0.13 0 0 0 0 0.07
Negotiating goals of coaching
1 0.07 0 0 0 0 2 0.15 2 0.18 0.08
Exploring coachee’s work situation
14 0.91 2 0.20 1 0.06 5 0.36 2 0.18 0.34
Exploring coachee’s likes and wishes
6 0.39 3 0.30 0 0 11 0.80 2 0.18 0.33
Exploring coachee’s resources
3 0.20 3 0.30 2 0.13 3 0.22 4 0.36 0.24
Exploring coachee’s current state
1 0.07 0 0 5 0.31 6 0.44 0 0 0.16
Exploring potential scenario
12 0.78 2 0.20 16 1.00 4 0.29 6 0.55 0.56
Question of confirmation
9 0.59 3 0.30 1 0.06 11 0.80 7 0.64 0.48
Question of elaboration
13 0.85 0 0 5 0.31 11 0.80 0 0 0.39
Question eliciting feedback
2 0.13 0 0 2 0.13 2 0.15 0 0 0.08
Question realising challenge
1 0.07 1 0.10 0 0 2 0.15 9 0.82 0.23
Others 2 0.13 3 0.30 0 0 1 0.07 0 0 0.1
Table 8.4: Quantitative overview of questions according to function: coaches
On average, the most frequent types are ‘exploring potential scenario’ (0.56 items ptw),
‘question of confirmation’ (0.48 items ptw), ‘question of elaboration’ (0.39 items ptw),
‘exploring coachee’s work situation (0.34 items ptw)’, and ‘exploring coachee’s likes and wishes’ (0.33 items ptw). These activities particularly serve to encourage the coachees to
open up, to tell their stories, and to develop their own ideas about potential solutions to their issues.
However, it is evident from the overview that the average numbers per se can be misleading, as most of the results in the categories of functions of questions are low in statistical terms. Moreover, there are strong differences not only between the numbers of questions employed by the coaches, but also between the functions that these questions fulfil. Some of the categories with the lowest average numbers are significant in one or two coaching conversations only, whereas they are marginal in others. For instance, ‘exploring coachee’s current state’ is a question-related activity that is produced almost exclusively by Coach II (five items, or 0.31 items ptw, in coaching 3 and six items, or 0.44 items ptw in coaching 4). On the other hand, the category ‘negotiating goals of coaching’ occurs twice each in coaching 4 (0.15 items ptw) and coaching 5 (0.18 items ptw) and once in coaching 1 (0.07 items ptw), but it does not play any role in coaching 2 or coaching 3.
Yet, the analysis certainly provides insight into to the types of questions that emerge in the coaching corpus, some of which appear to be genre-specific, whereas others are clearly pervasive in other genres of spoken interaction as well. For instance, the categories
‘doing small talk/discussing practical issues’, ‘question of confirmation’, ‘question of elaboration’, ‘question eliciting feedback’, and ‘question realising challenge’ are general categories that could emerge in many other contexts. They all fulfil functions related to the process level of conversations, except for the first category, which is defined by the content of talk.
Likewise, those categories that are characteristic of the genre of coaching
conversations function to elicit relevant information on the content level: Questions serving the functions of ‘negotiating goals of coaching’, ‘exploring coachee’s work situation’,
‘exploring coachee’s likes and wishes’, ‘exploring coachee’s resources’, ‘exploring coachee’s current state’, and ‘exploring potential scenario’ all prepare the ground for solution finding processes.
On the part of the coachees, the quantitative analysis of questions according to function looks rather different (cf. Table 8.5): First of all, many question types are not
employed by the coachees at all. In accordance with their specific roles, the coachees do not generally explore the coaches’ work situation, their likes and wishes, their resources, or their current states. Neither do the coachees ask questions in order to explore potential scenarios on the part of the coaches’ careers (with the exception of Olivia in coaching 5; cf. Sections 8.1.3; 14.3). A less self-evident aspect is the fact that the coachees never use questions to negotiate the goals of the coaching sessions. However, they ask questions in order to negotiate the setting, and to elicit advice.
Remarkably, the most common function of questions by the coachees is ‘question eliciting advice’ (0.28 items ptw). Further, sometimes the coachees safeguard mutual understanding by the function ‘question eliciting feedback’ (0.17 items ptw). Thus, while feedback and relational work seem to be mostly the coaches’ domain, the coachees take responsibility in part for these areas as well. The category ‘question about the coach’ also corresponds with a high average number (0.20 items ptw), but it is apparent that these occurrences can solely be observed in coaching 1 and, above all, in coaching 5 (cf. Section 8.2.3).
Coaching 1 Coachee Kate (15,352 words)
Coaching 2 Coachee Bobbie (9,927 words)
Coaching 3 Coachee Rachel (15,979 words)
Coaching 4 Coachee Pauline (13,714 words)
Coaching 5 Coachee Olivia (11,008 words)
Ø
Items Items per word count
Items Items per word count
Items Items per word count
Items Items per word count
Items Items per word count
Average items per word count Questions
by coachee in total
32 2.08
χ²=
18.05 p<0.0001
9 0.91
χ²=
0.365 p=0.546
2 0.13
χ²=
18.026 p<0.0001
8 0.58
χ²=
4.09 p=0.043
21 1.91
χ²=
8.057 p=0.005
1.12
Doing small talk / discussing practical issues
2 0.13 1 0.10 0 0 2 0.15 2 0.18 0.11
Negotiating setting
6 0.39 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.08
Question of confirmation
8 0.52 1 0.10 0 0 3 0.22 0 0 0.17
Question of elaboration
1 0.07 0 0 1 0.06 2 0.15 0 0 0.06
Question eliciting feedback
3 0.20 2 0.20 0 0 0 0 5 0.45 0.17
Question eliciting advice
9 0.59 4 0.40 1 0.06 0 0 4 0.36 0.28
Question realising challenge
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.09 0.02
Question about the coach
3 0.20 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0.82 0.20
Others 0 0 1 0.10 0 0 1 0.07 0 0 0.03
Table 8.5: Quantitative overview of questions according to function: coachees
Categories that are employed both by the coaches and the coachees are ‘doing small
talk/discussing practical issues’, ‘question of confirmation’, ‘question of elaboration’, ‘question
eliciting feedback’, and ‘question realising challenge’.
As Chapters 9 and 10 will further highlight, the role of the advisees as facilitators of feedback and advice may be even more important than generally acknowledged in the linguistic literature on advisory talk (cf. Heritage and Sefi 1992; Vehviläinen 2012).
Nevertheless, overall the coaches consistently ask more questions than the coachees, thus confirming their roles as leading the sessions.
While it is revealing to compare the quantitative data of the coaches and the coachees as well as the different coaching sessions, the numbers are even more enlightening in the contexts of the respective coaching sessions. Therefore, in the next section I will consider the individual coachings, interpreting their quantitative data within a background of their wider contexts and combining them with the results of the qualitative analyses.