Good Question: A workshop and digital phrasebank for more inclusive Question-and-Answer sessions

Questions - whether after research presentations or during classroom discussions - are critical to information exchange, feedback and academic discourse. Questions build academic communities, but they can also be uncomfortable, rambling or even damaging. There is substantial evidence that female scholars and other minorities are underrepresented in question and answer sessions (Q&As) reporting discomfort in speaking and fear or hostility or negative judgment. Despite the importance of questions, there are few opportunities to discuss how to ask questions, and few models for thinking about what constitutes a 'good question'. Limited resources are available to foster discussions on good questions and improve possibilities for participation for margnialised groups. In this project, we address this absence by developing a workbook and phrasebank for use in academic settings.