Questions, Questions & Questions

Wide-Open Questions

A funnel makes a good visual image of the types of interview questions available to us. The wide-open end represents open-ended questions that call for wide-open narrative answers.

My favourite and first asked wide-open question is simply, “tell me about your day (or week)”. It’s really an invitation to chat and you should not rush the witness. A wide-open question does not telegraph an expected answer. The witness has no idea of what answer I’m expecting, nor do I. Often, revealing tidbits of information are disclosed as the persons verbalizes their day’s activities.

Remember, you can only ask questions about things you know. If you have no idea that a supervisor and a worker had a heated argument at the end of yesterday’s shift, you can’t ask questions about it. In a wide-open response, a witness is going to tell you about the argument!

Leading Questions

As the funnel narrows, it represents leading questions, ones that narrow the scope of an answer a little. These questions can be more time and energy efficient than wide-open questions. Leading questions are useful if a person is trying to sidestep your questioning. If in their response to a wide-open question, they touched on some circumstances but they are avoiding the issue, it’s time for a leading question.

For example, if you want to know who else may have witnessed the argument, don’t ask the witness, “can you describe the argument in more detail?” Instead, ask a leading question: “Who else was there”? Sometimes we try to be too politically correct and try to skirt around tough issues. People are not afraid to answer tough or embarrassing questions, we are afraid to ask them!

Leading questions can also serve the purpose of letting a witness know you are aware of certain facts and prompt them to share more information. Use caution in revealing facts not generally known to others as it may identify the source of your information. Word your questions as clearly as you would expect your answers. If you want to know which direction the vehicle was traveling, don’t ask, “where were you going?” as they might say “to Tim Hortons”. Ask, “what direction were you traveling?”

Closed End Questions

This is the narrow end of the funnel and there isn’t much room to move. You are expecting one or two word reponses, often a simple yes or no. Inexperienced interviewers tend to rely heavily on closed end questions to their detriment. Use them sparingly. Often closed end questions telegraph the expected answer and when an unexpected answer is given there’s no follow up or push back by the interviewer.

Related Article: Asking Follow-Up Questions

Summarized from Reading People by Jo-Ellan Dimitrius

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