A Study on Elucidation of the Order of Thought When Transforming Interrogative to Question during Scientific Inquiry

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the order of thought when transforming interrogative to question during scientific inquiry. For this purpose, we first conducted a survey of university students and graduate students to collect speech protocols when subjects transformed interrogatives into questions. We then analyzed those protocols to reveal the order of thought in the transformation process from interrogative to question. The results of our analysis revealed that “Confirm problem status–Recalling existing knowledge–Factor identification–Formation of hypothesis–Generate question” is, in general, the order of thought when transforming interrogative to question during the scientific inquiry process.