innehållsfrågor

Innehållsfrågor is a Swedish term that translates to content questions. It refers to questions designed to probe the substantive material of a text, lesson, dataset, or report. The emphasis is on content knowledge, understanding of concepts, facts, and explanations, rather than on form, style, or procedures. In pedagogy, innehållsfrågor are used to guide study, check comprehension, and structure assessments by focusing on what learners are expected to know about the central content, often described in curricula as centralt innehåll.

In education, such questions are typically aligned with learning objectives and assessment criteria. In journalism and qualitative research, similar questions help verify factual content and guide analysis of sources or material, focusing on core data, arguments, and evidence.

Characteristics include clarity, relevance to the central content, and a balance between closed questions (for specific facts) and open questions (for explanation and synthesis). Good innehållsfrågor avoid double-barreled wording and bias, and they are tailored to the audience’s level.

Examples: For a lesson on photosynthesis, innehållsfrågor might be: What is photosynthesis? Where does it occur in the plant cell? What are the roles of light, water, and chlorophyll? For a news article on climate policy, questions might include: What policy is being proposed? What are the expected effects and who are the stakeholders?

See also: curriculum content, question construction, assessment.