The Art of

Questioning
 Raise questions
about a particular
aspect of a material
viewed
 Intelligent questions
stimulate, provoke, inform
and inspire.
“Judge a man by his
questions rather
than his answers.”
- Voltaire
 “We run this company
on questions, not
answers.”
- Eric Schmidt, CEO of
Google
Why don’t we
ask questions?
 1. Too lazy to ask
2. Afraid
3. In a hurry to get
things done
Why do Questions are
More Important Than
Answers?
Questioning is the art of learning.
Learning to ask important
questions is the best evidence of
understanding there is.
 Types of Questions
1. Open-ended and closed-ended
Questions
2. Funnel Questions
3. Probing Questions
4. Leading Questions
 Closed – ended questions
- Require the respondents for a short
answer, often 1 word
- (yes/no questions, multiple choice, a
question to get a specific piece of
information)

Open-ended questions
- Allow the respondents for longer responses
- (what, why, how, describe, and tell me)
 Funnel questioning
It involves an intentional sequence of
inquiry that typically consists of a long
line of closed-ended questions, which,
when answered, can allow for more
open-ended questions later on.
For instance, if you wanted to learn about a car accident your
client was involved in, you might choose to use a line of
questioning similar to the one below:

Q: About how many other people were in the car with you?
A: Just two of us.
Q: Who was in the car with you?
A: My brother, John.
Q: Where were you driving to?
A: Our mom’s house, in Walnut Creek.
Q: What time of day was it?
A: Mid-morning, about 11 a.m.
Q: Tell me what happened when your car was hit?
A: [Open-ended answer.]
 Probing Question

It is a technique that involves asking for more

information about a previous statement. For
example, if you needed something from a
direct report who told you the information
wasn’t accessible, you could ask, “what,
exactly, makes the information difficult to
access?”
Probing questions are useful if you need
more information to clarify a situation, or
if you need to sort out an issue by
uncovering layers of details, opinions, or
feelings.
 Leading Questions

Leading questions are typically closed-ended

lines of inquiry that result in the interviewer
upholding the interviewee’s opinion. For
instance, “when’s the soonest you can get me
the report today?” already assumes the report
can be ready today, leaving it more difficult for
the interviewee to suggest an alternative
timeline.
Consider this. When
you ask questions,
 Let them huddle, and sit in
awkward silence.

Let them think you’re a little bit

crazy.

Watch for the glow.

The mind must never
exhale, but grapple!