Asking Questions

1. Asking Questions Anna Allford, Project Manager, AvMA

2. Effective Questions • Ask open questions. Open questions encourage the speaker. They elicit a more detailed response than closed questions. • "What" and "Why" are usually helpful starts to open questions. • ”How”, "Where”, "When”, and Who” are the other essential open questions.

3. Benefits of Open Questions • Asking Open-Ended Questions allows for a wide-range of responses and provides an opportunity for the person answering to: • Tell you what he or she considers to be important. • Have maximum latitude to speak freely. • Share more than just facts.

4. Benefits of Closed Questions • Closed questions invite very short answers and fail to open up the conversation. • However, they are useful for obtaining specific information and for bringing conversations to a close.

5. CLOSED QUESTION How many children do you have? OPEN QUESTION Tell me about your family. EXAMPLE

6. Using Open Ended Questions • Each of you has a card with an object/animal on it. • Turn to a neighbour and try to find out using 10 open ended questions what they have on their card. • Take it in in turns to ask questions • At the end of the 10 questions – guess what it is.

7. Probing for clarity What do you mean____________ Could you be more specific about Could you tell me a little more about What are your reasons for saying that? Probing for additional information What else did you do What other reason did you have What other information do I need to know? Probing some more

8. Summary • Open questions allow for broad dialogue and free discussion. • They are designed to draw out the maximum in response. • Probing allows you to clarify or complete your information The key to success is Active Listening