Idea 84: The skill of asking the right question
It is harder to ask a sensible question than to supply a sensible answer.
Persian proverb
Questions are the tools of interviewing or, more widely, of listening. The art of interviewing largely consists of asking the right questions at the right time. There are several different kinds of question, each with its pros and cons. It is useful to have them all in your repertoire, so that you don’t get stuck like a broken record on only one type of question.
| Question | Uses | Disadvantages |
| The yes/no question
For example, ‘Have you read this report?’ | Good for checking facts. Establishes where a rough balance lies quickly (e.g. ‘Are you healthy?’). | Can force oversimplified answers (e.g. to the question ‘Are you or are you not satisfied with your job?’). |
| The closed question
For example, ‘How long have you worked here?’ | Best where facts or data are sought. Form of question restricts answer to a limited area. | Can sound like an interrogation. Leaves little room for discussion or explanation. |
| The open-ended question
For example, ‘How do you see your career progressing?’ | Good for opening up the exchange and discussion of information and ideas. | May invite long and rambling answers, leading to irrelevancies. |
| The leading question
For example, ‘Don’t you agree that you should have done that weeks ago?’ | Not very useful, unless you are trying to push someone in a certain direction. | The knowledge gained by a leading question is usually limited in value. |
| The loaded question
For example, ‘What do you think about the chief executive’s stupid play for expansion in Europe?’ | Limited, unless it’s deliberately provocative. | A loaded question is charged with some hidden implication or underlying suggestion. It has a bias or prejudice built into it. It can also blow up in your face. |
| The prompt
For example, ‘So what did you do then?’ | Keeps things moving, guiding the interviewee in content and direction. Clarifies if the other person has not understood what you want. | Can prematurely curtail or direct an interesting reply to an open-ended question. |
| The probe
For example, ‘What precisely was the extent of your budget responsibility in Canada?’ | Obtains more information, following through from the general to the particular. | Can make it all sound like an interrogation. |
| The mirror
For example, ‘So you felt completely fed up at this point?’ | A reflective way of checking whether or not you have received the other person’s message accurately. | Be careful that you do not introduce a slight alteration of meaning: ‘No I felt rather frustrated, but not fed up.’ |
| The ‘what-if?’ question
For example, ‘Supposing we opened an office in the Gulf, would that interest you? | Making assumptions or creating situations imaginatively and asking what the interviewee would do. | Can force someone’s hand or lad to unfulfilled expectations. Only yields hypothetical information. |