AUTHOR=Bietti Lucas M., Bietti Federico U.

TITLE=The Interactive Functions of Questions in Embodied Collaborative Work

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.704275

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.704275

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Researchers have been interested in the investigation of the interactive functions of questions in conversational contexts. However, limited research has been conducted on the interactive functions of questions in embodied collaborative work, i.e. work that involves the manipulation of physical objects. The aim of this study was to identify the interactive functions of questions in embodied collaborative work. To do so, we conducted a systematic qualitative analysis of a dataset of 1751 question-answer sequences collected from an experimental study where pairs of participants (N=134) completed a collaborative food preparation task. Qualitative analysis enabled us to identify three functions of questions: Anticipation questions, exploration questions and confirmation questions. We discuss how the types of questions are associated  with i) the accomplishment of interactional goals and ii) complementary temporalities in the collaborative activities.