Master the Art of Open Questions: Transform Coaching & Leadership in School and Life!

Closed questions are usually easy to answer as the choice of answer is typically a yes or no, depending on the question here are a few examples.

Examples of Closed Questions

• Are you feeling better today?
• May I use the bathroom?
• Will you please do me a favor?
• Have you already completed your assignment?
• Is that your final answer?
• Were you planning on becoming a manager?
• Can I help you with that?

Open Questions: 

Open questions allow for much longer responses, and therefore potentially more creativity from you and more information from the one you’re asking. Ask them open questions to children to engage them about their own future.

Here are a few examples.

Examples of Open Questions

• What were the most important parts of the project?
• What are you planning to do today at work?
• How exactly did the argument between the two of you start?
• What is your favorite part of your job?
• How will you help the company if you are hired to work for us?
• What do you plan to do immediately following graduation from college?
• What was your college experience like?
• What is the quickest way to get to the meeting room?

Examples of Types of Answers

• A lie. The respondent may lie in response to a question. The questioner may be able to pick up  on a lie based on plausibility of the answer but also on the nonverbal communication that was  used immediately before, during, and after the answer is given.

• Out of context. The respondent may say something that is totally unconnected or irrelevant  to the question or attempt to change the topic. It may be appropriate to reword a question in  these cases.

• Partially answering. People can often be selective about which questions or parts of questions  they wish to answer.

• Avoiding the answer. When asked a difficult question, which probably has an answer that would  be negative, avoidance can be a useful tact. Answering a question with a question or trying to  draw attention to some positive aspect of the topic are methods of avoidance.

• Stalling. Although similar to avoiding answering a question, stalling can be used when more  time is needed to formulate an acceptable answer. One way people do this is to answer the question with another question.

• Distortion. People can give distorted answers to questions based on their perceptions of social norms, stereotypes, and other forms of bias. Different from lying, respondents may not realize  their answers are influenced by bias or they exaggerate in some way to come across as more “normal” or successful.

• Refusal. The respondent may simply refuse to answer, either by remaining silent or by saying,  “I am not answering.”

Using An Example Of Leading Questions 

Let’s take an example of climate change.

Instead of questions like:

Do you know what climate change is?
What are the three causes of climate change?

Ask:
Explain what the three main causes of climate change are.

Then ask a series of why questions. It helps them to connect to something personal.

2. a. Why is climate change imp for me, someone who lives in Guangzhou?
b. Why should I, as a student, be concerned about this now and not later?
c. Why is this relevant?

3. How do you know?
To answer this, students have to back up their answer.
b. How might your perspective be different than that of others.
This helps them to empathize and see other points of view.
c. How can you solve this problem?
This will require them to synthesize everything they know.

These kind of questions:

1. Help with higher critical thinking skills.
2. Helps them think and imagine.
3. Problem solve in a detailed way.

Also, don’t make the mistake of asking complex questions like this right away.

“Why do some claim that climate change is the biggest crisis facing this generation?”

Directly asking this question which is difficult can frustrate kids. Yes, this questions gives the ability to think of the consequences of an impending disaster. But, this question that must be asked after a series of lower order open questions.

Lower order questions to higher order questions have to be asked, so that critical thinking is ignited. Higher order thinking stimulates critical thinking. It allows them to slowly grapple with questions that don’t have one correct answer.