| There are various types of questions: | | | | "What is your opinion of tax shelters?" |
| | | | |
| Open-ended questions - broad in nature, | | | | Mirroring (reflective) or summarizing - |
| 'opens the door', generates free thinking, | | | | reflects or summarizes a series of questions |
| allows freedom in responding /determining the | | | | and answers or pieces of information to |
| amount and kind of info to give | | | | insure accurate understanding. Used to |
| | | | acquire more detail, to get the interviewee |
| "Tell me about yourself." | | | | to expand on an answer, to keep the |
| | | | interviewee talking |
| "Tell me about your administrative duties." | | | | |
| | | | "Okay, Bill, let me see if I have this |
| "How would you characterize your managing | | | | correct. First, you …?" |
| style?" | | | | |
| | | | "You have never been a salesperson before?" |
| Closed-ended questions - restrictive in | | | | |
| nature 'keeps door fairly closed', asks for | | | | Primary question - introduces topic of |
| narrow, structured response-often a single, | | | | discussion/new areas within a topic [or |
| one-syllable, direct answer. Limits answer | | | | category such as education, experience, etc.] |
| options, often supplying all possible answers | | | | |
| in the question | | | | "Tell me about your last accounting |
| | | | position." |
| "How long have you held this position?" | | | | |
| | | | "What advice can you give me about breaking |
| "Did Ms. Adams hire you?" | | | | into this field? |
| | | | |
| " How would you rank these in order of your | | | | Secondary question - follows up / probes |
| frequency of using them on the job? | | | | response to primary question or another |
| …speaking writing listening reading" | | | | secondary question Useful in "digging" for |
| | | | reasons, supporting ideas, justifications |
| Direct questions - requests verifiable facts | | | | [why?], personal feelings |
| statistics, info, opinion, or conclusions | | | | |
| | | | Primary: "During your academic preparation |
| Requires specific responses | | | | for this career, what courses did you find |
| | | | most helpful?" |
| "What company did you last work for?" | | | | |
| | | | Secondary: "Of those , which was most |
| "What do you think was the major reason for | | | | helpful?" |
| the restructuring of your company?" | | | | |
| | | | Primary: "Are there any courses that you |
| Indirect questions -does not require a | | | | didn't take but now wish you had?" |
| question mark; yet, it encourages discussion | | | | |
| of a particular topic | | | | Secondary: "How would that course have |
| | | | helped?" |
| "I wonder what it's like to travel on the | | | | |
| job." | | | | Secondary questions are useful when |
| | | | interviewee's response isa. superficial |
| "It must be at least a two-hour drive for you | | | | |
| to get to your office." | | | | "Tell me more about …" |
| | | | |
| Double questions - asking two questions with | | | | "What happened after …?" |
| the second almost identical to the first or | | | | |
| asking two questions with the second | | | | "How did you react to . . .?" |
| dissimilar to the first or either question | | | | |
| incomplete "Are you going to retire? Are you | | | | "Explain further the point …." |
| going to leave this position?" | | | | |
| | | | "Could you give me an example of that?" |
| "Where is corporate headquarters? Is it far | | | | |
| from here?" | | | | "Would you mind telling me more about your |
| | | | interest in …?"b. vague |
| Leading questions - leads the interviewee to | | | | |
| a response; the interviewer suggests | | | | "I'm not sure I understand your point." |
| implicitly or explicitly the answer he/she | | | | |
| expects/desires | | | | "What did you have in mind when you saidc. |
| | | | suggestible (suggests a feeling / attitude) |
| "You like close detail work, don't you?" | | | | |
| | | | "Please define 'middle management' for me." |
| "You don't really feel that tax shelters are | | | | |
| justified, do you?" | | | | "Just how large is your department?" |
| | | | |
| Neutral questions - gives the interviewee | | | | "How do you feel about that [react to that]?" |
| freedom to respond as he/she desires | | | | |
| | | | "Why do you think that happened?" |
| "How do you feel about close detail work?" | | | | |
| | | | "What do you mean by 'seems'? |