Why Ask Better Questions?
Asking better questions enhances thinking, learning, problem-solving, and communication. Good questions:
- Guide inquiry and exploration.
- Clarify assumptions.
- Elicit insights or novel responses.
- Enable self-reflection and deeper understanding.
What Makes a Good Question?
A good question:
- Elicits a novel or thoughtful response — not just a fact or yes/no.
- Opens possibilities rather than closing them.
- Reveals assumptions or forces re-evaluation of mental models.
- Matches the context and audience — good questions for brainstorming differ from those for debugging.
- Fosters chain-of-thought reasoning, helping others articulate how they arrive at conclusions.
Types of Questions
Questions can be classified by their function, depth, or structure.
1. By Function
| Type | Purpose | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Clarifying | Understand what’s being said | ”What do you mean by X?” |
| Probing | Dig deeper into reasoning or logic | ”Why do you think that?” |
| Exploratory | Generate ideas or new perspectives | ”What if we reversed the problem?” |
| Reflective | Encourage self-awareness | ”What assumption am I making here?” |
| Critical | Test or challenge statements | ”What evidence supports that?“ |
2. By Depth
- Surface-level: “What is X?”
- Mid-level: “How does X relate to Y?”
- Deep-level: “Why does X matter?” or “What are the implications of X?“
3. By Structure
-
Open-ended: Encourage elaboration.
→ “How might we design this differently?” -
Closed: Seek a specific answer.
→ “Is this implementation correct?” -
Leading: Suggest an answer.
→ “Wouldn’t you agree that…?” -
Falsifiable/Testable: Can be proven right or wrong.
→ “Does increasing X always decrease Y?”
Characteristics of Good Questions
| Characteristic | Description |
|---|---|
| Purposeful | Serves a clear goal in the conversation or inquiry |
| Contextual | Relevant to the topic or the respondent |
| Open/Expansive | Invites multiple viewpoints or lines of reasoning |
| Challenging | Pushes beyond defaults or surface-level answers |
| Precise | Minimizes ambiguity while leaving room for elaboration |
| Sequenced | Ordered to build thought step-by-step (chain of thought) |
Related Concepts
Questions:
- How LLMs generate or refine questions using Prompting or Chain of thought approaches?