How Questioning Functions in Co-construction

This microanalysis study extends our understanding of how questioning works in a face-to-face dialogue. It does so, first, by testing the central proposition of McGee's (1999) co-constructive model of questions on a body of experimental data. It does so, secondly, by demonstrating how the questions and formulations (paraphrases and summaries) of an interviewer are skillfully interwoven in co-constructive sequences designed to invite the interviewee to construct ever more detailed understandings around a topic introduced by the interviewer in an opening and overarching question to the sequence. The implications for social constructionism and doing therapy are discussed.