Find Out Anything From Anyone, Anytime summary

In the previous blink, you learned that certain types of questions are great because they are very open and invite a full response. In addition, you also discovered that other forms are less effective because they’re “leading.”

The first type of bad questions, then, are leading questions. The next three are: vague questions, negative questions and compound questions.

So far, you’ve learned that some questions lead to poor answers, while others prompt satisfactory ones. Here’s another question that tends to yield particularly informative answers: “What else?”

If there’s one golden nugget of advice to retain from these blinks, it’s to remember to use this phrase when you’re questioning someone.

Imagine that you have the opportunity to interview your favorite football manager for a sports blog. You’ve prepared a list of questions, and, in order to provide the best content, you want them all answered.

The best way to get the fullest answers is to delve deeper into your current question rather than rapidly moving from one to the next.

Remember that a conversation is a two-way exchange. Therefore, to get the most information out of someone, it’s best to put yourself in their shoes.

When asking questions, determine whether the respondent has something to lose or to gain. Different respondents will have varying motives for either answering or refusing to answer certain questions.

Just as respondents will have different motivations for answering or avoiding certain questions, a person will have varying reasons for asking a question in the first place. And, generally speaking, a person’s profession can tell you a lot about what kinds of questions they’ll ask.

Teachers tend to ask penetrating questions to get their students thinking. The most effective practice is to ask questions that encourage students to discover the facts and then to meaningfully engage with them.

When a big news event breaks, you’ll notice that the journalists covering the live event focus on what’s happening in real time, rather than speculating about motivations or trying to provide explanations. The reason for this is because journalists are trained to ask “What?” and “Where?” rather than “Why?”

When the Twin Towers fell, the news reports focused on the planes crashing into the towers at 8:45 a.m. and 9:03 a.m. This was then followed by coverage of the Port Authority closing the bridges at 9:21 a.m., President Bush speaking in Florida at 9:30 a.m. and, finally, footage of the other planes crashing, and the emergency services responding. It wasn’t until several hours later when reporters first started mentioning Al-Qaeda and speculating about the motivations of the terrorists.