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This is an important point. I personally try to explicitly address the social norms and varied strategies involved in academic questioning during my lab meetings with graduate students, as this can otherwise be particularly stressful at conferences or thesis defences.
Some quick tips:
1. Have your codebook at the ready to answer Qs about measures or items
2. Prepare for Qs concerning moderation by demographic variables, particularly if mentioned in participants sections
3. Restating Q or asking to rephrase can buy time to formulate response
1. Have your codebook at the ready to answer Qs about measures or items
2. Prepare for Qs concerning moderation by demographic variables, particularly if mentioned in participants sections
3. Restating Q or asking to rephrase can buy time to formulate response
4. When you don’t know an answer, highlighting the quality of the question as a direction forward, or point of future collaboration with the asker, usually quickly resolves it
5. Don’t focus on limitations of your work, but how many ways you have to improve & expand going forward
5. Don’t focus on limitations of your work, but how many ways you have to improve & expand going forward
5. Directly acknowledging you don’t know an answer and the Q raises an important point shows u know the limits of your work and prevents engagement on speculations for which u may not prepared
6. Citing external refs and authors in replies usually shuts down ego-based questioning
6. Citing external refs and authors in replies usually shuts down ego-based questioning
7. Using responses from audience members against each other can also effectively shut down ego-based Qs but takes practice (eg pitting Reviewers 1 & 3 against Reviewer 2)
8. Ego-based Qs in general can often be dissolved by flattering the quality of the Q and taking actual notes
8. Ego-based Qs in general can often be dissolved by flattering the quality of the Q and taking actual notes
9. Taking written notes of audience Qs during your talk visually suggests a lifelong learning approach and receptiveness that is disarming
10. Simply thanking ppl for their Q is a basic courtesy that sets a positive, respectful tone for future Qs
11. Hidden slides of extra info
10. Simply thanking ppl for their Q is a basic courtesy that sets a positive, respectful tone for future Qs
11. Hidden slides of extra info
12. Separate Qs into parts & focus on one; a good partial answer is better than a bad attempt to answer everything
13. Asking “does that answer your Q“ usually shuts it down as it creates self-consciousness in the asker by drawing audience attention to their own expertise or tact
13. Asking “does that answer your Q“ usually shuts it down as it creates self-consciousness in the asker by drawing audience attention to their own expertise or tact
14. Review your paper, codebook, or data in its entirety before an important talk to remind yourself of how familiar you are and points you made previously that can help during Qs
15. Practice a talk repeatedly in lab meetings, or with supervisor, peers; push them to ask hard Qs
15. Practice a talk repeatedly in lab meetings, or with supervisor, peers; push them to ask hard Qs
16. Taking time to sip water or breathe deeply while asking to rephrase a question can calm nerves
17. I personally find humour disarming; when an audience is smiling they are on your side and have less time/motivation to call you out
17. I personally find humour disarming; when an audience is smiling they are on your side and have less time/motivation to call you out
18. Addressing multiple limits in a slide (eg “we can talk about this later if you like”) can diffuse ego-based Qs that are no longer original & it‘s assumed u have preformulated responses
19. Remembering u are awesome at something else during Qs can calm nerves, give perspective
19. Remembering u are awesome at something else during Qs can calm nerves, give perspective
20. In the end, all good Qs can be used to make your work better and be directly incorporated into a future publication/talk to make it stronger. “Thank you may I have another” can be challenging in the moment but can improve your work and your ability to answer new Qs.
