The scientific importance of asking questions at meetings: Why virtual debate is not enough
✍ Scribed by Maureen A. O'Malley; Sabina Leonelli
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2010
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 60 KB
- Volume
- 33
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0265-9247
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Scientific meetings are crucial to scientific activity and progress. Not only do they connect people, but they provide many types of opportunities for sharing state-of-the-art findings in particular fields and disciplines. It is disturbing to many participants at such meetings, therefore, that interaction during the question time following talks is often stilted and uninspiring . Observers of this phenomenon have ascribed it to inhibition and shifts in social behaviour that may be the result of big changes in the structure of scientific fields. Alternative forums have been suggested, including virtual conferences and online comments about articles . We propose some supplementary diagnoses and cures for this problem, starting with an analysis of what the purpose of questionasking is, and why particular ways of asking questions might be seen as problematic.