Story question

Story questions are the heart of Sprockler inquiries. They are usually the first question of a Sprockler inquiry, after the introduction.

When coming up with a story question, it is important to think clearly about what it is that you want to know. What are you really curious about? Think about what topic would you like to know more about and start thinking about how you are going to look at it.

Secondly, it is important to think about the exact phrasing of your story question. The question needs to be inviting, stimulating and prompting to make people feel at ease and willing to share their stories with you. You can start your question with phrases such as:

“Can you tell us a story about … ?” “Could you share an experience with … ?” “Could you tell us about a time that …?”

When thinking about the phrasing of questions, it is important to realise that asking a question sets in motion thinking about that topic in the mind of the reader and thus can create awareness about that particular topic. This awareness can trigger change. A negatively oriented question can put the respondent in a negative mindset that could influence the answers that are given, which is something you might want to avoid. For example, it might be interesting to gather all problems in a certain area of an organisation, however, unless you are actively going to do something with these issues, listing their problems does not provide storytellers with an engaging experience.

Unless you are actively looking for specific types of stories (negative or positive), it is recommended to ask broad and inviting questions that can be answered with both positive as well as with negative stories.

Examples of such questions are:

• Could you tell us a (short) story about a time when you or another woman tried to influence an initiative in your community? What happened?

• Can you share a story about one organisational effort you witnessed or know about? Tell us a (short) story about a time that was meaningful to you related to the leadership of the senior managers in your company. This can be either a positive or negative story.

• Can you give an example of a time when you thought management handled a situation well?

• Can you share a story about a time when someone successfully took charge of a project? What happened?

• Can you tell us about a time when you felt your input was being valued by the organisation you work for?

You can find more examples of story question in the example inquiries under the Resource section of our website or ask us to access our database.