How to display dropdown list for select element

Is there a method that can be invoked to cause the list (options elements) of a select element to display?

I am trying to automate the usage of a webpage with a select element. Upon selecting a date from the select element, the page is supposed to refresh to show relevant info. When I do it with the mouse, it works fine. However, upon using VBA to set the SelectedIndex property, triggering the FireEvent 'onchange' method, or invoking the click event of the desired Option element, nothing happens. I am wondering if showing the list first then doing onclick or click will make a difference.

Thanks for any help

50% of programming is coding. The other 90% is debugging