Business communication technique. How to ask questions correctly and what mistakes to avoid

Common questions

By asking, we want to receive information that confirms our vision of the world, our perception of the situation, our “map of the world.”

If someone does something that seems very strange to us, we immediately ask, “Why are you doing that? What's gotten into you? And he will be forced to justify himself and explain himself. Because we want to understand him! We want to understand what he did, but in our coordinate system. Because we limit the questions we ask to 15% of their total variety.

Let's talk today about the remaining 85%, which we usually don't touch. And also about questionology - the art and science of asking questions.

Closed questions

Who? When? Where? Which?

Closed questions are based on the true-false principle or the multiple choice principle. That is, they require a one-word answer. For example: “Where were you born?”, “Did you go to work at 9:00?”, “Can you play the violin?”

Closed questions are useful for prompting the person to reveal something about their own life that you could use to frame the conversation further. “I was born in the city, but in a different one,” “Yes, I go to the gym three times a week.” Closed questions are also asked to determine the interlocutor’s position on an issue that interests you. When they have already fulfilled their role, closed questions make the conversation dull, monotonous and boring. After each of them, an oppressive silence reigns. People who are asked several closed questions in a row begin to feel like they are being interrogated and often experience irritation.

Socratic technique

There is a technique that allows you to expand questions.

The first who long ago understood the need to change traditional questions was Socrates. For example, if one of his students complained about injustice, Socrates did not ask him: “Why are you complaining about injustice?” Recognize that answering this question will not advance the debate much. Socrates asked: “What assumption have you made to conclude from it that this is unjust?”

See how the focus is shifting? This time the student thinks about how his own inferences function. By asking this question, Socrates allows us to think about his way of thinking, that is, reflecting. And on top of that, he asked the student to determine what his “world map” consists of.

The purpose of Socrates' questions is to make the student think, teaching him a lesson through it. A brilliant idea, I must say.

Objectives and areas of application

The main task is to obtain information about a person, his interests, attitude to work, and character traits. Areas of application of the technique:

1. Marketing. Necessary for identifying development trends and screening out low-quality products.
2. Personnel Management. To recruit suitable employees, you need to obtain information about candidates for the position.
3. Medicine. Used to obtain data about the patient's well-being.
4. Pedagogy. Teachers interview children to determine the level of knowledge of students, identify their interests and strengths.
5. Journalism. Used to obtain information about celebrities and scientists.

The survey is actively used in psychology. It allows you to find out the characteristics of the human psyche, identify hidden fears and psychological barriers.

Aristotle's Lyceum

Aristotle, another philosopher, went even further. He built the first lyceum in Athens on this principle: asking questions to make you think - this was the principle of the learning process there.

What is the situation with lyceums in the 21st century? Questions are used in abundance. But only in order to evaluate the student, who must reproduce everything that was told to him. He is asked one question and expected one specific answer. Which is also known in advance! In fact, this should be called interrogation. To teach and then question - this is the essence of a modern lyceum. A huge difference from the Socratic project. But we were taught that way too.

Requirements

In order to obtain accurate information when conducting a survey, certain requirements must be met. They relate to the procedure, drawing up questions, and analyzing the data obtained.

To the procedure

The study should be carried out in calm conditions. The respondent should be comfortable, no one should distract him, confuse him, or instill his own opinion, which could influence the answers.

You also need to pay attention to the well-being of the interviewee. A person must be healthy. On the day of the study, the individual should not be nervous or quarrel. If there is an important event coming up in the coming days, it is better to postpone the procedure to another week.

For questions

The quality of the information received depends on the design of the questionnaire. The questions should be:

1. Separate, logical.
2. Simple. The use of highly specialized terms is not allowed.
3. No clues, no ambiguity.
4. Specific.
5. In the language spoken by the interviewee.

There must be adequate answer options.

There is no point in asking a person about topics unknown to him. Psychologists advise having a conversation with the people being interviewed in advance and studying their biography. This will make it easier to prepare a number of questions of interest.

Kinds:

1. Subjective. When choosing them, the opinion of the respondent is taken into account.
2. Open. They are used to identify the personal opinion of the respondent. Some difficulties may arise when processing them.
3. Closed. These can be single-word or multi-word questions with multiple answer options. The responses are easy to process, but often the information received is inaccurate.

A separate group is projective questions. They ask about a third person.

To the analysis of the obtained data

Data analysis must be done with an open mind. It is better to have it conducted by a person who did not communicate with the respondents.

To create statistics and comparative analysis, you can use only reliable data from previously conducted studies.

Why ask questions at all?

We ask questions to find out what is happening around us, but not in order to learn something fundamentally new - to only confirm and strengthen the already existing “map of the world.”

You can say that the system works well - why ask any other questions? Einstein said this: “If I have 1 hour to solve a problem on which my life depends, I will spend the first 55 minutes searching for the best question I can ask myself. When I find it, it will take me 5 minutes to answer it correctly.”

What are the main mistakes made when creating questions?

1. The proposal is formulated in such a way that it contains the answer in advance. This tactic will be justified only if the proposal contains the answer you need. But in fact, such a technique is manipulation, so getting a person’s personal opinion here will be much more difficult, because it is easier for him to agree with you.
2. Constantly using only closed questions. You yourself can block the way for a person to develop his thoughts and give out as much information as possible. This is far from the best strategy, and, as a rule, it gives poor results.
3. Creating pressure on the question that is being asked. Here we can talk about raising one’s voice or putting moral pressure on one’s opponent. This is used only if it is necessary for the interlocutor to admit guilt. Naturally, making a certain type of defense, he will agree with the assumption that you expressed.
4. Don't understand the answer, but pretend that everything is clear. The only ambiguity that follows from this is why it was necessary to ask the question if the answer was not understood. It is better to repeat the information two or three times and reformulate the question completely. This is the only way to understand what kind of answer was intended by the person with whom you are communicating.

By focusing on the above rules and methods, you can easily get the necessary answers, which a person will give consciously and without any difficulties. Naturally, if you have a fairly serious conversation or interview, it is advisable to practice creating the right questions and conduct a training dialogue. This way you can rehearse the acquired skills and communicate without fear with the person from whom you need to obtain information.

"Question everything"

This message is also great because it shows how a genius carries out his research. It is more about questioning than seeking answers. If he had asked himself the traditional question beginning with the word “why” (“Why are the movements of celestial bodies not explained by modern theories?”), he would not have advanced physics as much as he did. Instead, he most likely asked the Socratic question: “What modern hypotheses can be proposed to explain the celestial movements?” That is, the revolutionary nature of his contribution lies in the fact that he proposed to change existing hypotheses. He suggested that time and space are impermanent. A revolutionary idea that changes the “map of the world” in physics. As you can see, asking questions is very important.

Data analysis

After completing the survey, you need to collect the data obtained and begin analyzing it. It is not always possible to obtain accurate information using questionnaires. Causes:

1. Incorrectly formulated questions.
2. Prejudice towards the respondent.
3. Wrong choice of people for the group.

A psychological survey is a method of obtaining information of interest. They can be carried out as a separate study, but it is better to use them in combination with other methods. This will help to obtain accurate data and eliminate the shortcomings of questionnaires.

Coaching Example

To better understand how questionology works, I propose to consider the example of coaching a teenager.

Teenager: “I work very hard, participate in class, stay attentive, do all my homework, spend a lot of time on it. But as soon as I find myself on a test, everything disappears from my mind, it’s like I’m in a stupor.”

You see, this teenager is already extremely active. He is the actor in his situation. He works, he listens to explanations in class, he participates in the lesson, he looks for answers when he is called on.

If I ask the question: “Why do you get stuck on a test?” - it won't help him. Because he is already the main character in it, and I will ask him to remain in this role.

Instead, I will suggest that he change his position. I suggest you first feel what is happening. And then step back from the situation and observe from the outside what he is doing.

Coach: “When you get stuck on a test, how do you feel?”

Teenager: “I have a great fear of failing a test. And this prevents me from moving on."

Coach: “What are you afraid of when you’re afraid of failing a test?”

Teenager: “Well, if I get bad grades, I think it will prevent me from choosing what I want to do in life later.”

Do you see? A simple change of position regarding the object of the question allows this teenager to become aware of his “map of the world.” And the question that forces you to step away from the situation is not as difficult to formulate as it seems. It is enough to repeat the verb twice: “What are you afraid of when you are afraid of a test?” And the teenager suddenly realizes that for him the point of the test is to ultimately be able to choose a career.

You can practice detaching yourself from the object of any question by repeating the verb. And it works every time.

When we have realized what our “world map” looks like in a particular place, we can offer various other possibilities, new directions.

To do this, you need to offer other mental gestures.

Until this moment, he used the description of what was happening to him. I will offer him a mental gesture, which consists of bringing two different elements together.

Coach: “Does this mean that a bad grade on a test will prevent you from choosing a profession later?”

Teenager (after some thought): “Well, actually, no. Just because of one test, I won’t have any problems choosing a career direction.”

After this mental gesture, I offered him another one. It will put him in an interesting situation.

Coach: “Okay. If you don't write a test, what's the worst thing that will happen to you?”

Teenager: “I’ll have to rewrite it and be more careful.”

As you can see, by offering him different mental gestures and positions, we multiply the possibilities, whatever the subject of the question.

Open questions

How? Why? For what? How? Tell us about..., Explain... etc.

The question "What?" refers to a mixed type and, according to the context, can be used in both versions. We advise you to alternate closed questions with open ones if you want your conversation to be interesting and deeper. Open-ended questions mean that the answer will necessarily consist of several words. Such questions need explanations and more complete disclosure. By asking such a question, you show the other person that you are interested in what he has to say and are eager to learn more about him.

It may seem to you that many people answer closed questions as if they were open questions. If this is the case, then your interlocutor will answer the open question in even more detail. This means that he feels at the moment and in your company at ease and freely. When you ask open-ended questions, the interlocutor gets the opportunity to open up more fully.

By asking questions, you have the opportunity to better control the situation, topic and flow of the conversation. For example, your interlocutor tells you: “I just returned from India.” In such a situation, there are many questions you could ask depending on your interests. “What was the weather like there?”, “What language do they speak there?”, “What are your impressions of Indian cuisine?”, “Tell me about your most vivid experience.”

When choosing which question to ask, keep two things in mind. First , ask a question only when you really want to hear what your interlocutor will answer. No matter how skillful you are in conducting a conversation, the interlocutor can sense the falsehood non-verbally - by your movements, microfacial expressions or intonation, and then, most likely, he will treat you without much sympathy.

Secondly , strive to work in two ways, which means the ability to conduct a conversation not only in a way that is interesting and interesting to you, but in a way that makes it pleasant for the interlocutor to talk to you. The most boring conversation happens when both participants neglect each other's interests.

A rhetorical question

Let's continue to look at question types. Next in line is a rhetorical question, which serves for a deep and detailed consideration of the subject of conversation. It is impossible to give an unambiguous and unbiased answer to such questions. Their purpose is to highlight unresolved issues and raise new questions, or to elicit support from the panelists for your opinion through tacit agreement. When composing such questions, the particle “whether” is also often used.

Examples:

• We all share the same opinion on this issue, right?
• Can we accept such actions as normal?

Special question

Question types can also be used to obtain additional information. For example, a special question. It always starts with question words. The following are usually used: when, why, where, which, how, etc. These words do not include what and who when they act as subjects.

Thus, the question has the following structure: question word - auxiliary verb - subject - semantic verb - object.

Examples:

• What is your name?
• When did you go to England last time?

What questions exist in Russian?

In this work we will look at 5 types of questions. There are a number of other classifications, the number of questions in which may vary, but today we will focus on this one.

So, according to our classification, there are five types of questions: closed, open, turning points, rhetorical, questions for reflection. Note that open and closed questions are distinguished in almost all types of classifications. This fact makes them basic.

Now let's look at each type in more detail, and also give examples.

Separated question

We continue to look at the types of questions in English with examples. This type is called separative because it consists of two parts, which are separated by a comma:

• Part 1 is a statement;
• Part 2 – “spine”, a question regarding this statement.

"Spine" is usually the opposite of the statement. That is, the purpose of the question is to verify the authenticity of the statement made.

Examples:

• You play basketball every day, don't you?
• Steven is a famous artist, isn't he?

The turning point question

Another basic type of question is the turning point. These are the kinds of questions that help keep the discussion moving in a certain direction. They can also serve to raise new issues. They are asked in situations when you have received comprehensive information on the problem under consideration and would like to switch the audience’s attention to another, or when resistance from your opponent has arisen and you want to overcome it.

The interlocutor’s answers to such questions make it possible to clarify vulnerable points in his judgments.

Examples:

• Tell me, do you think it is necessary?..
• How is it really going for you?..
• What do you think?..
• What do you see in the future?..

Questions with or (“or”)

Such questions require a choice between two different answer options. The word order here is the same as in the general question, but it is necessary to offer an alternative possibility.

Examples:

• Do you like tea or coffee?
• Will you go to Moscow by plane or by train?
• Does your father or your mother help you with your homework?