Types of Questions - Effective Questioning

Asking questions helps us to receive the information we need. Questions allow us to gain knowledge in all aspects of our professional and personal lives. At work, we need to ask questions for several reasons, including:

When we’re seeking answers to come to a solution
To solve problems
To better understand and get to know our coworkers
To get the tools we need to perform our jobs and work with our team members effectively.

What you might not realize is that specific situations require particular questioning techniques to support productive communication and relationships.

In this article, we cover why it’s important to ask the right types of questions, along with the different types of questions you might ask and examples.

Why is it necessary to select the right types of questions?

Whether you need input, help, or a better understanding of something, the type of questions you ask will impact the quality, reliability, and validity of the responses you receive.

When you ask the right types of questions, you’re able to get the answers you seek that are relevant to you and help you move forward.
Conversely, when you ask the wrong type of questions, it’s more difficult to get a clear and accurate response that aligns with the purpose behind your questions or the type of responses you’re seeking.

The “why” behind your questions can help you determine which kinds of questions to ask of coworkers, managers, clients, and subordinates. At times, you might need a lengthier conversation to problem-solve or receive the information you need. At other times, you might simply need a brief response to an inquiry without further conversation. The types of questions you ask impact the answers you receive.

What are the different types of questions?

Here are 10 categories of questions with examples. Let’s start with the two main types of questions – closed and open questions.

Closed questions

Closed, or close-ended, questions have only a few answer options. Often, they’re “yes” or “no” questions or are questions with answer options. Here are a few examples:

What’s your name?
Can you use Microsoft Word applications?
Do you prefer Italian, Mexican, or Chinese food for dinner?
What is the numerical value of pi?

Open questions

Open, or open-ended, questions are the opposite of close-ended questions. They allow for a thoughtful and longer response to engage individuals and groups in discussions.

For example:

How do you feel today?
What are your thoughts about the ABC software project?
What ideas do you have that could support the lack of resources in our local parks?
What do you like about your job?

Beyond these two main types of questioning, you will find a score of other question categories, each with its own strategies for gleaning new or more information.

Probing questions

Probing questions are follow-up questions to previous questions that allow you to dive deeper, clarify, or request more information about the responses you’ve received. This category of questions includes:

Refocusing questions: These kinds of questions help get an individual or group back on track if they sway too far from the topic at hand, or their responses are incorrect. You might ask, “If that fact were true, what would that mean for the future of the team?”
Clarifying questions: Clarifying questions do as the name implies – they help you gain additional information to clarify a response. They also help ensure you correctly understand the response received. You might pose the question, “What do you mean when you say ‘unjustly disciplined?’” Another common clarifying question used by counselors and therapists is, “Tell me more about that.”
Redirecting questions: These types of questions help engage additional members of a group or team. For example, suppose a team member we’ll call Tammy provides a response to a question. In that case, you might ask the group, “Does anyone have anything they’d like to add to Tammy’s response?”
Prompting questions: Prompting questions are often brief answer, leading, or closed questions that provide additional context or clues to help guide a group or individual to the correct answer. To prompt an answer about customer ratings from an employee, you might ask, “Where would you go to find data on a client’s satisfaction rating?”
Critical awareness questions: Critical awareness questions require critical thinking to answer a question. Asking a critical awareness question might look something like, “How would your viewpoint be different if you were on the opposing side?”

Inference questions

Inference questions require inductive or deductive reasoning to come up with a response.

Inductive reasoning is when you derive broad generalizations based on specific observations or knowledge. For example, if a manager notices that their department’s performance always improves after providing a recognition incentive, they might conclude that other departments within the company will have their performance improve if provided with a recognition incentive.

Deductive reasoning is when you use generalizations to come to conclusions about specific scenarios. If a store manager learns that a certain floor plan improves sales for 90% of the stores with the same target market, they might conclude that a similar type of floor plan will improve sales for their store, too.

Common inference questions include phrases like:

Explain why you think that…?
How do you know that…?
What can you conclude about…?

Examples of inference questions are:

If your coworker said they didn’t feel well that morning, and you notice they’re gone that afternoon, what do you imagine happened with your coworker?
If employee morale is generally highest for organizations that offer flex schedules to their employees, what can you conclude will happen if your employer begins to offer flex schedules?

Leading questions

Leading questions “lead” individuals to provide a desired response. These types of questions can be considered manipulative since they’re often used by people to get others to agree with them. Therefore, use caution when applying these forms of questions.

Here are some leading question examples:

Wouldn’t you love it if all the employees participated in the seminar?
Do you think the updates made to our meeting process are an improvement?
How much did you enjoy the session?

Funnel questions

Funneling is when you ask a series of questions that become less or more restrictive. In other words, you go from closed questions to open questions or vice versa. For example, going from open-ended to close-ended would look like:

Tell me about your vacation.
What did you do while you were there?
Were there good shops to visit?
Did you purchase any local merchandise?

Conversely, going from close-ended to open-ended would look like:

Did you like the seminar?
What did you enjoy most about it?
What would you have done differently?

Rhetorical questions

Rhetorical questions are often used as a form of persuasion and inspiration and don’t require a response. They can also be used to prove a point or as a form of sarcasm and humor because the answer is obvious, as in the example, “Do elephants fly?”

At work, rhetorical questions can be good to use during speeches or presentations but aren’t commonly used in day-to-day conversations. The following questions are examples that don’t require a response:

Who would not hope to maintain their well-being while working?
Who cares if the store closes early?
Wouldn’t it be lovely if everyone chewed with their mouth closed?

Process and recall questions

Process and recall questions are technically two categories of questions that are similar in that they both require responses based on prior knowledge. Process questions require higher-order thinking with deeper analysis and thought, while recall questions require something to be recalled or remembered.

A recall question would be stated as, “What are the company’s values?”
A process question would be stated as, “Why do you believe in the company’s values?”

Divergent questions

Where convergent thinking focuses on finding a concrete solution to a problem through analysis, divergent thinking is a creative process to develop new ideas and possibilities. As such, divergent questions are open-ended questions with an emphasis on open dialogue and eliciting opinions and ideas, especially about future-oriented solutions. As examples:

Why don’t employees use their PTO time since it’s a proven benefit for mental health?
How do you think we could improve the candidate experience and interviewing process?
What do you think the outcome would be if we reduced costs by 20%?

Affective questions

Affective questions are questions that focus on how people feel about what they’re hearing. Answers to affective questions can help you validate a person’s feelings or provide clarity when needed.

Consider the following affective questions:

How do you feel about the strategies discussed?
What is your reaction to our benefits package?
Does it matter to you if we offer hybrid work arrangements?

Carefully consider the best question type, select, and proceed

Now you know some of the most common types of questions used. When at work, give careful consideration to the type of information you’re seeking and the context you’re working with, and from there, choose the right type of questioning to proceed. You can also use the above insights to understand the types of questions you might be asked during interviews to help you prepare!

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