Chapter 2 - The Structure Of A Good Question
(EN: The introduction to this chapter is perfunctory and provides no value.)
Using Interrogatives
A question should be posed in a way that gets the other person to respond with more than a single word. The basic interrogatives are who, what, when, where, why, and how. They do not always result in a question that will elicit detailed information, but are generally a good start.
Questions that start with "do" or "could" often require a simple yes/no answer, and that is all you will generally get when you ask them. Further, it serves to undermine rapport: asking a yes/no question indicates to the other person that you already know the answer, are attempting to get them to agree with your point of view, and do not really care about what they might have to say.
The perspective to take when questioning someone is one of "curiosity without prejudice," being open to any answer they might give, and giving them the opportunity to speak their mind, rather than to merely be corralled into going along with your assumptions.
The author speaks of attack journalists, who attempt to put words in the mouths of people they interview in order to build a sensational story. Instead of looking to such journalists as models for interrogation, turn instead to the journalists who do softer stories or better still, talk-show hosts whose job it is to get their guests to talk about themselves.
Curiosity with Prejudice
The author presents a couple of interviews as examples of good and bad interviewing techniques, but provides no details about what the examples are intended to exemplify. (EN: what is obvious in the "bad" example is that the interviewer was clearly attempting to use questions to get the interviewee to agree with his point of view, rather than being open to allowing the interviewee to speak for himself.)
Question Length
Lengthy questions are almost always very bad questions. In some instances, the question is long because the interviewer is more interested in speaking than listening - and is presenting a lot of information with which the other party is expected to agree. Even when your intention is to gather information rather than provide it, a convoluted question can often be difficult to answer.
To get a clear and focused answer, as a clear and focused question. The author repeats his advice to try to find out one thing at a time.
One common mistake interrogators make is loading the question with additional details to clarify the question - but what this really amounts to is attempting to control the way in which the other party responds by restricting the way in which the terms of the question are interpreted.
A better approach: simply get over it. Ask a vague question, and take the risk that the other party might not know how to answer. Trust that they will ask you to clarify your question if they do not know how to answer.
Using Frames
Framing a question is different to asking a loaded or leading question, in that the purpose of the frame is to give the respondent a clear idea what you're asking about, not to bias or restrict his ability to answer freely.
In some instances, we can prepare a person to answer a difficult or unclear question by asking a few broader questions beforehand, to build rapport, give them a sense of the topic of the interview, and gather some background information.
In other instances, it may be necessary to make a statement prior to asking a question - whether to clarify the subject of the discussion, or to prepare the other person for a question about a sensitive or difficult topic.
This is not a bad practice, and can in fact be quite useful - so long as the intention is to give context to the question rather than to influence the answer.