resources

writing our interview questions together

why we write these together

you notice what adults miss

it's in your words

you'll host it

the plan

  1. Learn about what it means to develop a strong question set
  2. Brainstorm ideas
  3. Vote for our best ones
  4. Build the question set

open questions

Questions where you can respond in any way you wish.

closed vs. open

Closed questions usually get one-word answers.

question starters

Tell me about a time when…
What is one…? Why?
How do you…?
Walk me through a day when…
What would you change about…?
What do you wish adults knew about…?
Add "Why?" to the end of a yes/no question.

good questions are open and specific

open

You can answer in many ways.

"What would your perfect school day look like?"
"Is school going well this year?"

specific

It asks about a real moment.

"Tell me about a time you made a big choice at school."
"How would you rate school?"

they're also clear and fair

clear

Easy to read and understand.

"When do you get to make choices at school?"
"How well does this teacher explain things, grade fairly, and respond to students?"

fair

It doesn't push you toward an answer.

"What do you hope teachers learn from this talk?"
"Why do you love our new schedule?"

take out the hidden opinion

Some questions already pick the answer for you.

biased
fair
"What's wrong with your school?"
"What is one thing you would change about school?"
"Wouldn't projects be more fun than worksheets?"
"What are projects like in your classes?"
"How does homework stress you out?"
"How do you feel about homework? Why?"

watch out for these

two in one

"How does your teacher give feedback and help you feel like you belong?"

Fix: ask two separate questions.

big words

"Rigor" and "success" can mean different things to different people.

Fix: use simple words.

too broad

"How do you feel about school?" Most people just say "fine."

Fix: ask about one moment or one class.

and these

agree or disagree

"Do you agree lunch is too short?" only gets a yes or no.

Fix: use a 1–5 scale and ask why.

naming names

"Which teacher is the hardest?" points at one person.

Fix: ask about what happened instead.

too personal

Everything is recorded. Private details put people on the spot.

Fix: ask things you'd answer out loud.

put them in order

If you ask about something hard, also ask about something good.

start easy

A happy question everyone can answer.

"What is one word you'd use to describe school? Why?"

go deeper

Questions about our topics.

"Tell me about a time you felt connected to your school."

end open

A big question to finish.

"What do you hope adults learn from this talk?"

question types in polaris

four kinds of question

open

Everyone talks about it.

scale (1–5)

Pick a number from 1 to 5.

image

Pick a picture and say why.

video

Watch a short clip and talk about it.

what each one sounds like

  • open"Tell me about a time you felt connected to your school."
  • scale"How much say do students have at our school?"
  • image"Which image best shows how you feel about school? Why?"
  • video"What part of this clip feels familiar?"

how scale and image questions work

  1. Everyone picks on their own device.
  2. You can change your pick.
  3. The host shows everyone's picks.
  4. The group talks about why.
no say at alla big say
Try two scales: how it is now and how you wish it was.

write them together

in groups of 2–3

  1. What does our school (and state) need to learn more about?
  2. What questions would help us learn that?
  3. Write 3 questions and consider each one.
  4. Vote for the best ones.
  5. Narrow it down to the ~6 questions we'll ask.

voting in rounds

1

share & vote

Share all the questions. Combine any that match. Everyone gets 3 votes.

2

narrow it down

Keep the top 8 or so. Fix the wording. Vote again with 2 votes.

3

final pick

Choose the final ~6. Extra questions can be follow-ups.

Last check: do we have a question for every topic?

questions?

connect@humanrestorationproject.org · docs.polariseducation.ai