The Social Functions of Questions in Embodied Collaborative Work
Researchers have been interested in the investigation of the social functions of questions in conversational contexts. However, limited research has been conducted on the social 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 social functions of questions in embodied collaborative work and to determine whether such functions correlate with performance outcomes. To do so, we conducted qualitative and quantitative analyses 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. Quantitative analyses revealed that there was no correlation between the types of questions and group performance. However, they showed that groups that contributed the most to performance presented a similar distribution of question types. The identification of such patterns is a first step towards the design and implementation of interaction-focused interventions aimed at increasing group productivity in embodied collaborative work.