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Open Ended Questions Exercise - 10 Min

The document provides guidance on an exercise to practice asking open-ended questions to foster curiosity and reduce conflict. It instructs participants to form a circle and have one person share a small part of a real-life experience. The other participants then take turns asking open-ended follow up questions to gradually learn more details of the full story. Examples of open-ended questions are provided, such as "What do you think about that?" and "How would you change things?". The goal is for participants to get used to asking open questions that encourage meaningful answers rather than just yes or no responses.

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104 views2 pages

Open Ended Questions Exercise - 10 Min

The document provides guidance on an exercise to practice asking open-ended questions to foster curiosity and reduce conflict. It instructs participants to form a circle and have one person share a small part of a real-life experience. The other participants then take turns asking open-ended follow up questions to gradually learn more details of the full story. Examples of open-ended questions are provided, such as "What do you think about that?" and "How would you change things?". The goal is for participants to get used to asking open questions that encourage meaningful answers rather than just yes or no responses.

Uploaded by

James Imissyou
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Open Ended Questions Exercise – 10 Min

OBJECTIVE: Learn how to ask open ended question(s) to foster curiosity as a


component of reducing conflict.

 Explain that as a group we will practice open ended questions and being curious.
We want to understand: “What is happening? Please tell me more?” Ask the group
for more examples of open ended questions. Distribute and review the Open
Ended Questions handout.

HOW:
 Fishbowl exercise: Gather in a circle with the whole group.
 Have a real life experience in mind, and share a small part of it. i.e. “Last week,
something happened that made me very angry.”
 The group then takes turns asking open ended questions and practicing curiosity,
and you (the facilitator) gradually let out the full story.
 If someone asks a closed question, a facilitator just answers yes or no. In order to
get to the full story, participants have to ask open ended questions.

Open Ended Questions


An open-ended question is designed to encourage a full, meaningful answer. It is the
opposite of a closed-ended question, which encourages a short or single word answer.
Open-ended questions also tend to be more objective and less leading than closed-
ended questions. Open-ended questions typically begin with words such as “Why” and
“How”, or phrases such as “Tell me about…” Often they are not technically a question,
but a statement which implicitly asks for a response. Some examples are:

 Tell me, what do you think about that?


 What is it you like about the idea?
 Why would you suggest that?
 How do you plan to achieve that?
 What do you think will happen now?
 How would you change things?
 What do you want to happen?
 What’s causing the problem?
 What’s the best case scenario?

Now, try them yourself.

Creating the Change We Want – A Guide for Building Neighbourhood Capacity


Examples of how to begin an open-ended question:
 What would happen if…
 I wonder…
 What do you think about…
 In what way…
 Tell me about…
 What would you do…
 How can we…
 How did you…
 How do you feel about…
 Why?
 What do you mean?
 What if…
 Explain more about…
 What do you think about…
 Can you elaborate on…
 Tell me more about…

Creating the Change We Want – A Guide for Building Neighbourhood Capacity

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