It is the skill of asking the right type of questions, to the right person at the right time and in the right environment. "The power of questioning is the basis of all human progress" Is is rightly said, "Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers".

1. The Art of Questioning
By – N.G.Palit

6. What is a good question?
 ”Successful people ask
better questions, and as
a result, they get better
answers.”
-- Anthony Robbins

7. What is the art of
questioning?
 It is the skill of asking
the
right type of questions,
to
the right person at the
right
time and in the right
environment.

8. What is Questioning?
 Questions can be defined as:
”A sentence phrase, or gesture
that
seeks information through a
reply.”

9. Purpose of Questioning?
It is quite interesting that
when we ask questions, we:
 May not be interested to
get an honest answer.
 Just want an agreement.
 Would like our opinions, ’backed
up.’
 May not actually need an answer.

11. Purpose of questioning
 Therefore, in order to ask
the type of questions, we
need to be aware of our
true motives behind asking
them.

12. What questions can accomplish?
 Questions can accomplish
seven broad tasks:
 Gain knowledge
 Promote & expand
thinking.
 Clarify.
 Probe..
 Guide
 Intimidate

13. 1. Gain Knowledge
 From our childhood, most of us have
seen a child constantly asking ”why.”
It is to gain knowledge.
 But, we can gain knowledge, only if
we recognize a need to do so.
 A few arrogants who think that they
have all the answers may be unwilling to
seek the opinions of others.

14. 2.Promote & expand
thinking
 In order to think, consider the best
possible way how to get more
(quality) information, through
appropriate and unbiased
questioning.

15. 3. Clarify
 This is to ensure that our
understanding of an answer
is correct and unbiased.
 The process involves offering
back to the responder what
we understood them to have meant.

16. 4. Probe
 Probing questions are
designed to dig or think
more deeply.
 They often start with:
”what”
”why”
”how”
”when”

17. 5. Guide
 It is an approach to guide the responder
to solve an issue by himself, through a
series of deliberate questions, which will
help them to reach an answer.
 This particular type of question is called
”the reflective toss”.

18. 5. Guide
 The reflective toss:
Question
”Reflective Toss”
Responder’s Answer

19. 6. Intimidate
 This type of questions and their
styles come under the following
categories:
 Rapid firing of questions without
allowing a response.
 Aggressive tone, pitch and speed.
 Aggressive body language.

20. 6. Intimidate
 Aggressive body language
coupled with warm
language
 This creates a neural
dissonance in the brain.

21. 7. Attack
 These questions are personal in
nature, and the questioner is not
interested in the response.
 These questions may be used to
berate the responder.
 They may often start with – ’you’
or ’you are.’

22. Why do we ask
questions?
 To obtain information.
 Out of curiosity.
 To maintain control of
conversation.
 To clarify.
 To express interest in another person.
 To encourage thought.
 To test or gain knowledge.

23. Why questions are
asked?
 To enhance vision.
 To explore personality
or difficulties.
 To show others how
much.
 For critical reflective learning –
”to assess what went wrong,”

24. Types of questions
 Before questioning we must be
clear:
 Who is my audience?
 What is my relationship with
them?
 Is this the right time to ask?
 Is this the right
environment?
 Are my intentions clear /
good?

25. Different types of
questions
 1. Closed
 2. Tag or Tail
 3. Open
 4. Imaginative
 5. Funnel
 6. Probing
 7. Recall and Process

26. Different types of
questions
 8. Leading
 9. Loaded
 10. Rhetorical
 11. Emphatic / emotional

27. 1. Closed Questions
The main features of closed questions are:
 1. Single short answers like, ”yes”, ”no”,
”don’t know.”
 2. They usually provide a factual answer.
 3. Used to gain clarification.
 4. They force a person to give a brief answer.
 5. But, a misplaced question can stop
conversation and lead to silence.

29. Examples of closed questions
Some examples of closed questions
are:
 ”What is your name”?
 ”Do you smoke”?
 ”What do you prefer, tea or
coffee”?

30. 2. Tag Questions
 The main features of
Tag or tail questions are:
 They turn a statement
into a question.
 They allow us to check
what we suspect or know is true.

31. Examples of Tag or Tail
question
 ”You can do this today, can’t you”?
 ”I am the best person for the job,
aren’t I”?
 ”Yours is the best way to do, isn’t it”?
 But, the drawback is that a person who
is ’forced’ to agree, may feel aggrieved
and may not cooperate at a later stage.

32. 3. Open Questions
 Open questions begin with:
”What ---”
”Why ---”
”When ---”
”How ---”
”Which ---”
 In order to get the most out of open
questions, one has to be an ’active listener.’

33. Main features of open
questions
 They encourage conversation.
 They are good for finding out details
 They give ’control’ to the responder
during conversation.
 They often start with ’what’, ’when’
’why’, ’tell me’. ’describe’, etc.
But, they take longer time, and one
needs to be an active listener.

34. 4. Imaginative Questions
 Imaginative questions are free
from the strict norms and
constraints of normal questioning.
 They help both the sides to see
things in a different light.
 Example:
”If money was no
consideration,
what would you do”?

35. Imaginative Questions
 Imaginative questions are
often called:
”Blue sky thinking”
”Thinking out of the box”
’ Looking at the world
through rose tinted glasses.’
* Advantage of thinking creatively and
without any constraint, generates creative
and innovative ideas.

36. 5. Funnel Questions
 These questions ’funnel’ or
’channel’ the responder (s)
 They start with open questions,
but gradually narrow down to
closed question.
 Sometimes, it can be the other way – close
to open questions.

37. Funnel Questions
 1. Open to close questioning is normally
used by police in order to obtain the
maximum amount of information.
 2. Closed to open questioning can be
used for establishing better rapport
with people.
 Advantages: Funnel questions are ideal
for finding out more details.

38. 6. Probing Questions
 Probing questions help to
obtain more details. Different
types of probing questions
are:
 a) Clarification
 b) Purpose
 c) Relevance
 d) Repetition

39. Probing Questions
 e) Echo
 f) Examples
 g) Extension
 h) Accuracy
 i) Emotional
 j) Evaluation

40. Clarification
 It is used to get more details,
when the responder uses
vague or unclear language.
 Some examples are:
”What did you mean by xxx”?
”Can you tell me more about ---”

41. Purpose
 It is used when there is
confusion about the purpose
of what they said.
Examples:
 ”What were you thinking
about, when you said
---”?
 ”Why did you say ---”?

42. Relevance
 This can be used if the
discussion or conversation
sounds that it is going off
the track.
 Example:
”How is that relevant to the
question”?

43. Repetition
 This is one of the best way
to get more details. We can
ask the question in the
same way or we can
rephrase it.
 Example:
”Where did you go?”
”Which places did you visit?”

44. Echo
 In echo questioning, we repeat what
has already been said, emphasizing the
areas where we would like to get more
details.
 Examples:
Ans: ”Can we go out?”
Question; ”Can we go out, what do
you

45. Examples
 This can be used when we
need to ask for specific
examples to test the depth
of their answer or to check
the honesty behind it.
 Such type of questions are often used
in job interviews.

46. Examples
Some questions can be like:
 ”Can you give me an example of
when
you overcame a challenging job
situation?”
 ”Can you tell me about a time
when
you ---?”

47. Extension
 This is used when a responder has not
given details in his answers and we want
to hear more.
Examples:
 ”What happened after that?”
 ”Can you tell me a little more
about
that place.”

48. Accuracy & completeness
 The purpose is to check the answer
against the information we already have.
Examples:
 ”How does that compare with the
answer you gave earlier?”
 ”Is there anything that you have
missed out?”

49. Emotional
 When we are asked an emotional
question, we may answer in third person.
This may be to distance ourselves from
the response.
 In order to clarify, that the answer is
’owned’ by the responder, we may ask:
”How did you feel about that?”

50. Evaluation
 This type of question is
used to get someone to
rank or judge something.
 Examples:
”How do you know that this is good?”
”What are the pros and cons of this?”

51. Evaluation
 It is interesting to note that probing
questions can also be asked by using
body language.
 A tilt of head or raising eyebrows shows
our interest and may encourage the
responder to give out more details.

52. Leading Questions
 A leading question steers the responders
towards a certain direction.
 This type of questions are used when
the questioner wants to get something
confirmed..
 These are commonly used in legal cases

53. Leading Questions
 Examples of:
a) Leading question:
”Were you at your
house on 31st. night?”
b) Non-leading question:
”Where were you on 31st. December
night?”

54. Leading Questions
 Advantage:
Leading question can help
you get the answer you
want.
 Disadvantage:
Biased leading question can render
your data unusable and open to question.

55. Importance of Questioning
It is correctly said:
 ”Judge a man by his questions
rather than by his answers.”
- Voltaire (1694 – 1778)
 ”It is better to know some of the
questions than all of the
answers.”
- James Thurber (1894 – 1961)

57. Importance of
Questioning

58. Importance of Questioning

59. Importance Of Questioning

61. At the end
 Please feel free to send your
valuable
feedback to me at:-
nandapalit@yahoo.co.in