A study of cross examination speeches of males and females was conducted to determine gender differences in intercollegiate debate. The theory base for gender differences in speech is closely tied to the analysis of dyadic conversation. It is based on the belief that women are less forceful and dominant in cross examination, and will exhibit behavior that is more tentative and less in control. It was hypothesized that women would use more open questions, fewer closed or leading questions, and more tag questions than men. The cross examination periods of 10 Cross Examination Debate Association debates were tape recorded and coded for types of questions and interruptions. The results indicated that men did interrupt more than women during a cross examination period of a debate, and they tended to interrupt women more than men. Women used more open questions than did men, but the hypothesis that men would use more closed or leading questions was not confirmed. In a differences of means test the hypothesis that women use more tag questions was not confirmed. However, in a comparison of both means and percentages, females were found to use nearly twice as many tag questions as the males. (HTH)