"One question is an utterance which serves as a request for information. Questions are sometimes distinguished from interrogatives, which are the grammatical forms typically used to express them."
The ability to ask questions that facilitate conversation and gather information in a non-threatening and open way.
Types of questions: Open-ended, closed-ended, clarifying, probing: Open-ended questions provide a broader scope of response while closed-ended questions have a limited range of specific answers. Clarifying questions help to clarify the context of the conversation while probing questions help to understand the issues, concerns, or behavior in detail.
Active listening: Active listening is a communication technique that involves paying attention to the speaker's words, body language, and tone, reflecting back what was heard, and asking questions to clarify and understand.
Building rapport: Building rapport is establishing a relationship based on mutual trust and respect. It involves creating a comfortable and safe environment that encourages open communication.
Empathy and validation: Empathy is the ability to understand and relate to the feelings and experiences of others while validation is acknowledging the feelings and experiences of others as legitimate and important.
Cultural competence: Cultural competence is a set of skills that help individuals to understand and interact effectively with people from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Non-judgmental attitude: A non-judgmental attitude is a mindset that involves remaining neutral and avoiding judgment of the speaker or their situation.
Tactful communication: Tactful communication involves expressing ideas, opinions, and feedback in a way that does not offend or harm the relationship.
Framing questions: Framing questions is the process of constructing and phrasing questions in such a way that they are clear, precise, and understandable.
Handling challenging situations: Challenging situations may arise during communication, and skills such as active listening, empathy, and tactful communication may help in managing them.
Reflection and feedback: Reflection and feedback are important skills that help individuals to evaluate their communication skills, identify areas of improvement, and receive feedback from others.
Open-ended questions: Questions that allow the respondent to provide detailed answers, promoting communication and a deeper understanding of the situation.
Closed questions: Questions that can be answered with a simple response, such as yes or no, limiting the amount of detail provided.
Clarifying questions: Questions used to clarify any ambiguity in the response, ensuring understanding.
Reflective questions: Questions designed to encourage self-reflection and promote personal growth.
Probing questions: Questions used to elicit more in-depth information about a particular topic or issue.
Leading questions: Questions used to influence or manipulate the respondent's answers in a particular direction.
Hypothetical questions: Questions that ask the respondent to consider hypothetical scenarios and their responses to them.
Cumulative questions: Questions that build up a picture of the respondent's situation or experience by asking about specific details.
Silencing questions: Questions used to draw the respondent's attention to a particular issue or concern.
Meta-questions: Questions about the questions being asked, allowing the respondent to explore their feelings and motivations regarding the topic at hand.
"Rhetorical questions, for instance, are interrogative in form but may not be considered bona fide questions, as they are not expected to be answered."
"Polar questions are those such as the English example 'Is this a polar question?', which can be answered with 'yes' or 'no'."
"Alternative questions such as 'Is this a polar question, or an alternative question?' present a list of possibilities to choose from."
"Open questions such as 'What kind of question is this?' allow many possible resolutions."
"Questions are widely studied in linguistics and philosophy of language."
"In the subfield of pragmatics, questions are regarded as illocutionary acts which raise an issue to be resolved in discourse."
"In approaches to formal semantics such as alternative semantics or inquisitive semantics, questions are regarded as the denotations of interrogatives, and are typically identified as sets of the propositions which answer them."