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Neutral Questioning (& Sense-Making)...by B. Dervin & P. Dewdney | What Makes This Paper Great? (#5)
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Neutral Questioning (& Sense-Making)...by B. Dervin & P. Dewdney | What Makes This Paper Great? (#5)

What Makes This Paper Great: Neutral Questioning - Episode 5

In this episode, Professor Jenna Hartel discusses the landmark paper "Neutral Questioning: A New Approach to the Reference Interview" by Brenda Durbin and Patricia Dudeny. The paper introduces the concept of sensemaking and outlines a communication strategy called neutral questioning for conducting reference interviews in libraries.

Background on the Reference Interview

  • The reference interview is a conversation between a librarian and a library user to clarify the user's needs and provide assistance.
  • The paper references Samuel Sweat Green's 1876 paper that first mentions the mediating role of librarians in assisting readers with their queries.
  • A typical reference interview involves five steps: opening the interview, negotiating the question, searching for information, communicating information to the user, and closing the interview.
  • Query initiation or query negotiation is a crucial step where librarians help patrons clarify their information needs.

Sensemaking Theory and Neutral Questioning Technique

  • Sensemaking theory helps librarians guide patrons from their initial expression of an information need to uncovering their underlying question.
  • Research shows that patrons often ask one question initially but have a different underlying question.
  • Neutral questioning is a technique that uses sensemaking theory to facilitate effective communication during reference interviews.
  • The paper provides detailed explanations, diagrams, and examples for librarians to learn and apply neutral questioning in their practice.

Authors' Background

  • Brenda Durbin has expertise in communications and has focused on studying communications within libraries. She is known for her work on sensemaking.
  • Patricia Dudeny worked as a librarian in London, Ontario. Her curiosity about why library users ask questions led her to pursue a PhD in LIS. She conducted research on communication skills during reference transactions.

Reflections on Human Communications

  • Brenda Durbin shares her thoughts on human communications and the legacy of modernity.
  • She mentions Steven Toulmin's book "Cosmopolis" and his belief in using science and objectivity to bridge gaps between individuals.
  • Durbin reflects on how our systems still prioritize structure, information, and technology over human beings, highlighting the influence of modernity.

Structure of the Paper

  • The paper titled "Neutral Questioning" is eight pages long and has a direct structure.
  • It begins with standard opening elements before introducing sensemaking theory and explaining neutral questioning in detail.
  • The combined theory and technique are evaluated, providing librarians with an assessment of their effectiveness.
  • The paper concludes by summarizing the main points discussed.

Timestamps may vary slightly depending on the video version.

New Section

This section discusses the lack of a systematic approach to teaching librarians how to conduct the reference interview and introduces a promising conceptual framework based on sense-making and neutral questioning.

Introduction to Reference Interview

  • There is no systematic approach to teaching librarians how to conduct the reference interview.
  • Librarians usually accept the patron's first question and then begin searching for an answer.
  • A better alternative is suggested, which is a conceptual framework based on sense-making and a technique called neutral questioning.

Sense-Making Model

  • Sense-making focuses on the human being rather than information resources or a library's collection.
  • Human beings move through space and time, sometimes facing gaps or discontinuities in their understanding.
  • Sense-making identifies three universal concepts: situation, gap, and use.
  • Situation refers to events in a person's life that create a context for a lack of sense.
  • Gap represents questions, confusions, muddles, riddles, or angst experienced by individuals.
  • Use refers to what individuals hope to do after creating a new sense of the situation.

Neutral Questioning Technique

  • Neutral questioning is a technique applied during query negotiation in the reference interview.
  • It aims to illuminate the patron's situation, gap, and use during conversations.
  • Questions in query negotiation can be closed, open, or neutral.
  • Closed questions limit responses to binary choices or available options determined by the librarian's judgment.
  • Open questions allow users to respond freely but may elicit irrelevant conversation and extend the interview time.
  • Neutral questions guide conversations along dimensions relevant to all information-seeking situations.

Examples of Neutral Questions

Neutral questions target the situation, gap, and use. Some examples include:

  1. Assessing the situation:
  • "Tell me how this problem arose."
  • "What are you trying to do in this situation?"
  • "What happened that got you stopped?"
  1. Assessing the gaps:
  • "What would you like to know about X?"
  • "What seems to be missing in your understanding of X?"
  • "What are you trying to understand?"
  1. Assessing the use:
  • "How are you planning to use this information?"
  • "If you could have exactly the help you wanted, what would it be and how will it help you?"

Effectiveness of Neutral Questioning

  • Librarians who attended workshops on neutral questioning expressed positivity and enthusiasm.
  • After training in neutral questioning skills, librarians asked more open and neutral questions, avoided premature diagnosis, and gave more helpful answers.
  • Users felt that their queries were better understood by librarians trained in neutral questioning.
  • However, a small minority of librarians voiced resistance to neutral questions, finding them awkward, overly prying, and time-consuming.

Conclusion

  • The paper concludes that the neutral questioning approach can improve communication not only in library reference interviews but also in other domains such as medicine.
  • Further research is needed to explore its effectiveness.

New Section

This section highlights the significance of the paper and its impact on sense-making as a methodology for information behavior research. It also discusses practical implications for professional practice.

Significance of the Paper

  • The paper contributes to sense-making's emergence as one of the field's most sophisticated methodologies for information behavior research.
  • It shifts focus from information resources and systems to human beings.
  • Provides busy librarians with a more sophisticated understanding of the reference transaction.
  • Offers right-sized tools, such as neutral questions, to improve the reference interview.

Research Insights and Ideas

  • The paper sparked new research insights and ideas about the reference interview.
  • Gross's concept of an imposed query, which refers to a reference question that is not one's own.
  • Durance's case or willingness to return as a measure of reference success.
  • The Reference and User Services Association's rubric of five ways to measure the performance of a reference interview.

Timestamps are provided for each section based on the transcript.

What Makes This Paper Great - Virtual Reference Channels

The speaker discusses the importance of paying attention to emerging channels of virtual reference through chat and email.

Importance of Virtual Reference Channels

  • Virtual reference channels, such as chat and email, are emerging as important communication methods in libraries.
  • It is crucial for library and information science professionals to stay updated on these emerging channels to effectively serve users.
  • By utilizing virtual reference channels, libraries can provide convenient and accessible assistance to users who may not be able to visit the physical library.
  • Keeping up with advancements in technology and communication is essential for librarians to meet the changing needs of their patrons.

Please note that there was no additional content provided after the timestamp 0:15:08 (908 seconds).

Video description

This 5th episode of the What Makes This Paper Great? series focuses on the 1986 paper, Neutral Questioning: A New Approach to the Reference Interview by Brenda Dervin and Patricia Dewdney. The paper was written at a time when much attention was being placed (by library and information science researchers) on the "reference transaction" or "reference interview" that occurs in a library context between a librarian and information seeking patron. The video introduces the reference setting and then explains Dervin's theoretical framework (called Sense-Making); it also explains neutral questioning, a questioning strategy for librarians to use during reference interviews. A shorter multimedia treatment of Brenda Dervin's Sense-Making theory appears in my video..Learn Information Behavior (1980s-Style) [https://youtu.be/gkYbN4kH4vw?si=v--vFPiPUemkAMzM]; there, Dervin's contribution is compared to ideas by Carol Kuhlthau, Marcia Bates, and Elfreda Chatman (to great background music from the 1980s!). 00:00 – Introduction 00:41 – Neutral Questioning: A New Approach... 01:22 – The Reference Interview 03:07 – Brenda Dervin 05:59 – Patricia Dewdney 06:47 – Structure of the Paper 07:33 – The Paper's Introduction 08:10 – The Theory: "Sense-Making" 09:39 – What is Neutral Questioning? 12:06 – Application Tests of Neutral Questioning 13:16 – What Makes This Paper Great? Dervin, B., & Dewdney, P. (1986). Neutral Questioning: A New Approach to the Reference Interview. Available at: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Neutral-Questioning%3A-A-New-Approach-to-the-Dervin-Dewdney/afe03051cdfc37d0b5d227c49aeae21feedf1f0a Dra. Aurora González-Teruel (University of Valencia) has created Spanish subtitles for this video. Muchas gracias, Dra. González.