9 TYPES OF QUESTIONS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS (WITH EXAMPLES) - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2024

The types of questions most used in human communication are closed, open, reflective, direct, rhetorical and multiple-choice questions. Each is used in different contexts and has particular functions and characteristics.

Questions are essential to establish an effective interaction. They are part of the communicative base of civilization and are constant in all types of language and dialect, including body language. They are the linguistic expressions that human beings use to search for information, knowledge or simply to make a request.

They are the communicative verbal manifestation of the great mystery about the instinctive curiosity of man and his incessant and inexhaustible search for knowledge. Scientists have highlighted the importance of asking oneself questions because the brain responds to formulations in the form of challenges.

The learning process of the human being is observed notoriously accelerated during the first years of life, since the infant does not enjoy the social or moral filters of adults and thus can innocently ask even the most silly questions.

The questions asked by children, in their naivety, are designed to obtain answers in more direct ways and without psychological barriers, in the same way that philosophers sought to answer the reasons for life, existence and the mysteries of the world.

What are the main types of questions that exist?

1- Closed questions

"What time is it?" it would be a closed question that only admits one answer.

They are used to obtain or validate immediate information. These types of questions meet certain characteristics: they give facts, they are easy and quick to answer and they allow the person asking to keep control of the conversation.

They are also known as "yes" and "no" questions, since they can be answered in this way for the most part, however they can sometimes be answered with short sentences or a single word.

These types of questions are quite common in job interviews or legal interrogations. These questions are the simplest method of finding the truth; such as "Did you do it?", "Do you want a glass of water?" or "Don't you have a problem working in a team?"

Generally its use tends to force the other party to give a quick and brief response. However, one of the disadvantages is the lack of details when obtaining a concise answer. Typically, other types of questions are required to validate certain answers.

2- Open questions

Unlike closed questions, open questions allow much more extensive and creative answers. They deliberately look for long answers; They cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no" because the formulation requires more elaboration, such as "What do you think?", "Why didn't you do the work?" or "Where did you study?"

They are used to inquire about new thoughts and ideas that are being formed in the garden of the mind. They work to develop a conversation, they allow openness to express opinions and feelings and, unlike closed questions, they give control of the conversation to the respondent.

They allow the person who asks to obtain more information of all kinds and learn more about someone, as well as being a mechanism to show concern about the person who is being asked.

They generally begin with the interrogative pronouns what, when, where, why, who, how, what, how much, among others.

3- Reflective questions

They are a type of questions that provide observable information about the person who responds, beyond the answer obtained. It allows the person asking the questions a clearer perspective of the individual who is answering.

They can be hypothetical or conditional, such as "Do you think that respectful coexistence could one day be achieved in the Middle East?" or "What kind of thinking and actions should we have to make the earth a better place to live?"

They are used to try to respectfully influence the person from whom a response is expected. It is presented as an invitation and not as an imposition on the person who responds, in addition, they may require clarification, reconsideration or reconsideration of what has been said above, in order to maintain or correct positions.

4- Direct questions

They are a way of tipping the balance to one particular side to obtain answers according to the judgment of who is asking. Include specific scenarios and fairly clear ideas in the question.

They are used to subtly direct the person to elaborate their responses based on a particular position. Children are very susceptible to these types of questions, since they tend to show the weight of suggestion by allowing themselves to be guided almost always and end up answering as the adult expects.

A clear example could be “How do you manage to maintain your composure under this critical banking situation?”; where the person automatically responds from the perspective of a banking system in trouble, even if they think otherwise.

5- Multiple choice questions

They are a type of direct-closed questions that force the person who responds to choose the most satisfactory option from a series of alternatives.

They are the perfect type of questions to be used in exams, sales or in obtaining information through subtle directing. They are generally dichotomous, but it is not uncommon to offer more than two alternatives.

They also serve to subtly help the respondent to find direction and rhythm in a conversation. It is enough to include in the question the desired answer among other distracting or unsuitable alternatives to be chosen.

Examples: Are you the type of person who thinks before acting or acts without thinking? Can we negotiate today or tomorrow? Do you want tea, coffee or a cold drink?

6- Rhetorical questions

Grammatically they are like any other type of question, but they are designed to awaken the thinking capacity in others or create empathy, like a speaker trying to engage his audience and make them aware of a particular topic.

Generally, they are accompanied by a humorous, ironic or sarcastic tone and they do not really require an answer, since the knowledge of it is assumed as obvious and evident.

We could consider the following examples as rhetorical questions: "Why is this happening to me?", "Who would like to stay healthy throughout their life?", "How long will I ask you to do the dishes?" or "do all zebras have stripes?"

Some rhetorical questions, like the last example, serve as common expressions to reflect behaviors or consequences within a culture, just as sayings do.

7- Clarification questions

They are questions that seek to delve a little more into a previous answer to eliminate any type of doubt. Some examples of clarification questions are "What are you trying to say when you say that?" or "Could you give me an example of what you just said?"

8- Funnel questions

It is a set of types of questions that -in general- start out being open to end up being closed. It is very typical of job interviews and plays with a flexible initial question in the answer that leads to other more specific and more restrictive questions when it comes to being answered.

Its purpose is to obtain as much information as possible about the person who gives the answers without rambling on them, being as specific as possible.

For example, the initial question would be: "What was your last work experience?", To later ask "Was it an individual or team job?" or "Have you had problems with a partner?" or "How did you solve the problem?"

With these questions, the interviewer gets to know if his potential candidate can be a problem when working as a team and if he could adapt to the vacant position.

9- cheat questions

Questions created to generate confusion in the person who answers. They can also be developed so that the point of the question is not captured so obviously.

It is typical of work questions, being some examples of it "Do you like working in a team?", "What do you think about the fact that we all charge the same?", "What is your biggest defect?",

References

1. Skills you Need Team. Types of Questions. Skills you Need site. Recovered from skillsyouneed.com.
2. Changing Minds. Open and Closed Questions. Changing Works. Recovered from changingminds.org.
3. Shae Kristine Tetterton. Interviewing Potential Staff. University of South Carolina's College of Library and Information Science - Special Libraries and Information Centers. Recovered from faculty.libsci.sc.edu.
4. Alison Gopnik (2002). What is your question? Why? Edge Foundation. Recovered from edge.org.
5. Montse Herrera. Kind of questions. Montse Herrera site. Recovered from montseherrera.com.
6. Karl Tomm (2007). Recent development in Therapeutic Conversation - Part 1: Interventive Interviewing. Online document. Recovered from cptf.it.
7. Changing Minds. Rhetorical Questions. Changing Works. Recovered from changingminds.org.