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Article published In: The Quality of Quantity, the Quantity of Quality
Edited by Steven Schoonjans
[Nota Bene 2:1] 2025
► pp. 69–105

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Expansion, reduction, or both?

A mixed-methods research design to explore questioning sequences as agents of effectiveness in business coaching

 | Universität Klagenfurt
 | Universität Klagenfurt
 | Universität Klagenfurt
 | Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften
 | Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache
Published online: 26 September 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/nb.00024.gra
Abstract
This paper discusses opportunities and challenges of a mixed-methods research model building on linguistic and psychological methods, to document, analyze and evaluate questioning sequences as agents of effectiveness in business coaching. It details the disciplinary needs of expansion and reduction in the context of the development of a typology of questions and question sequences as part of the interdisciplinary project Questioning Sequences in Coaching. The aim is to illustrate how negotiating and integrating qualitative linguistic needs, resulting from a descriptive-phenomenological approach, and quantitative psychological needs, resulting from a theory-guided approach, can be productive for bringing together interaction and effectiveness in the context of (appropriate) responsiveness. Alongside the focus on integrating qualitative linguistic and quantitative psychological research, the paper exemplifies the added value for linguistic research of combining them in the context of a comparative case study on the longitudinal development of questions generating solutions.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Researching process and outcome in helping professions such as coaching: Bringing together effectiveness and interaction
    • 2.1Appropriate responsiveness
    • 2.2First steps: The Turn-Sequence-Phase-Process Model
  • 3.The interdisciplinary research project Questioning Sequences in Coaching — Negotiating expansion and reduction
    • 3.1Documentation and description
    • 3.2Building categories
    • 3.3Assessing frequencies
    • 3.4Evaluation
  • 4.A longitudinal comparison of two coaching processes with respect to (un-)successful trajectories of change: From problems to solutions with the help of questioning sequences
    • Process Co5Cl1: Successful trajectory
    • Summary of Co5Cl1
    • Process Co10Cl1
    • Summary of Co10Cl1
  • 5.Discussion, implications and outlook
    • Implications for practice and research
    • Expansion, reduction and artificial intelligence
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Literature
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Cited by (1)

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Graf, Eva-Maria, Melanie Fleischhacker & Frédérick Dionne
2025. How coaches and clients do questioning in coaching – results from the interdisciplinary research project ‘QueSCo’ and their relevance for coaching practice and education. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

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