Types Of Questions To Ask

types of questions to ask

Have you ever thought the different types of questions to ask to a stranger? Asking questions to someone is an art and it requires a lot of skill to do it in the right way because, if not delivered in the right way, questions can get rude and offensive for people. Our reasons for different types of questions to ask can be anything but whether we get the answer we need or not entirely depends on the way we put forward the question. Each person has their own unique characteristics and there are a lot of people who don’t like answering to questions that are asked in the inappropriate way. We will see different types of questions to ask.

CLOSED QUESTION

Closed questions are the types of questions to ask that demand a short and specific answer and these answers can be either right or wrong. Answers of such questions are usually easy and do not demand an explanation in most cases. These types of questions to ask are used mostly in fact finding scenarios.

Eg:

Did you drink the milk?

Who broke the glass?

OPEN QUESTION

Open question can be defined as the opposite version of closed questions because these different types of questions to ask demand for longer and explanatory responses.

Eg:

Why was the game abandoned?

LEADING QUESTIONS

Types of questions to ask that can lead the response of the listener in particular directions are called as leading questions. Suppose you need to get a feedback on a new system that you recently implemented in your firm from an employee. You may not get a frank response if you directly ask him ‘How is the new system?’ But instead if you ask him ‘how are you getting along with the new changes in the company?’, there is a high chance that the employee might end up giving a true feedback on the system.

EVALUATIVE QUESTIONS

These are the different types of questions to ask that require sophisticated and logical judgment and reasoning to answer. The responder has to relate incidents and facts and reach a conclusion to answer such type of questions.

Eg:

How could you prefer this over that?

FUNNELING TYPE QUESTIONS

When there is a chance that the responder may not give you the right answer when you ask him a direct question, you can make use of funneling type of questions to make him give you the answer you want. Funneling type of questions is the term used to mention the type of questions in which you ask a series of questions where you will put the responder in a more restrictive environment each time.

Eg:

“ Tell me about the last school games?

Which all games were there?

Which one did you play?

Why you didn’t play?

Why were you not selected? “

In the above series of questions, there is a chance that the responder might deny when you ask him he wasn’t selected. But using the funneling method, you dragged him into a position that he has to tell you the truth because he himself brought him into such a position with his previous responses.