In crafting your question, be concise. Be sure you understand your desired outcome to choose the appropriate question format. In asking your question, don’t ramble and wait for the answer. Don’t rush. And, importantly, be very careful with your vocal tone and the emotion in the words you choose as our brains react first to tone and unconscious understanding.
There are two basic categories for questions: open and closed. Closed questioning requires a one-word answer. Often the question starts with ‘Is’ ‘Can’ ‘How many’ ‘or ‘Does.’ Open-ended questions require a more elaborate response and usually begin with ‘What,’ ‘How,’ ‘When,’ or ‘Why.’ Here are seven types of questions that fall into three groupings: factual, preference, and reasoned judgements.
One: Fact-finding questions are targeted at verifiable information about a certain current situation. For instance, ‘What kind of computer equipment are you using now?” “How much training did the staff receive at the beginning of the project?”
Two: Feeling-finding questions ask for information to get to the participant’s opinions, feelings, values and/or beliefs. For example, “How do you feel about the effectiveness of the equipment?” “Do you believe the staff received enough training?”
Three: Tell-me-more questions are intended to reveal more details. “Would you elaborate on that?” “Can you describe that more specifically?”
Four: Best/least questions help you understand potential opportunites in the present situation. Wants and needs are revealed. For instance, “what is the best thing about receiving the new computer?” “What is the worst?”
Five: Indirect questions help uncover thoughts in a more sensitive manner. Most often, the question will use more words. Like, “Some people find that computer training is too time consuming. What do you think about that?”
Six: Magic-wand questions let you explore people’s true desires and are useful in temporarily removing obstacles from a person’s mind. “If time and money were not obstacles, what sort of computer system training event would your design?”
Seven: Thinking questions help the participant see their own thinking which is beneficial to increasing self-awareness. “ How long have you been thinking about this?” “Can see you see any gaps in your approach?”
Asking great questions takes metacognition. (Think about your thinking.)
Excerpts from Ingrid Bens, Facilitating with Ease!
Successful Business Communication 