Counseling Chapter 4 Questions Opening Communication How Can Questions Help You And Your Clients

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Chapter 4

QUESTIONS: OPENING COMMUNICATION

How can questions help you and your clients?

Chapter 4, Questions: Opening Communication, provides specifics for drawing out client

cognitions and emotions. They help to “fill in the blanks” of client stories. Three key

questions to ensure that information is complete include: “What else?,” “Could you tell

me more?,” and, at the end of the session (or periodically), “What have we missed?”

CHAPTER GOALS

Interviewers and counselors use questions to draw out information and facilitate client

goals. If you use open questions effectively, you can expect the client to talk more freely

and openly. Closed questions will elicit shorter responses and may provide you with

information and specifics.

Awareness, knowledge, skills, and actions developed through the concepts of this chapter

will enable you to:

▲ Enrich client stories by bringing out a more complete description, including important

details.

▲ Choose the appropriate questions that are most likely to enlarge and clarify the story.

INTRODUCTION

We have talked with several instructors who prefer to place this chapter after students

have demonstrated competence in the other major listening skills. They point out,

Part of the decision will depend on your preferred theoretical orientation. Our approach is

to talk about the potential problems around questions and constantly “question questions”

This chapter is often chosen by our students as one of the most valuable of the book. The

specific questioning skills provide students with something concrete they can do to make

a difference in the interview. The use of questions, of course, remains a question in some

The positive asset search is emphasized in this chapter so that students experience the

importance of positives and strengths early on in their education in counseling skills.

Over time, the positive asset search becomes more and more important in our thinking.

Finally, let us recall Leona Tyler’s “minimum change therapy.” Tyler suggested that we

find strengths in the client, focus on them, and then over time the client would build on

these toward the solution of many life issues. The more experienced we become in the

OVERVIEW OF THE CHAPTER AND MINDTAP WEBSITE SUPPORT

DEFINING QUESTIONS

A case study is presented, asking students to compare their thoughts with ours around the

use of questions. Open and closed questions are then defined, and key issues around how

List of MindTap resources available for this section:

1. List of Websites: Several websites’ reviewing questions are included for students’

review.

3. Interactive Exercise: Basic Competence in the Use of Questions. This exercise will

4. Interactive Exercise: Identifying Questions. Questions are particularly powerful in

5. Interactive Exercise: Intentional Prediction. This exercise helps you examine

6. Interactive Exercise: Defining Questions, Open vs. Closed Questions. Write open and

closed questions to elicit further information from five different clients. Can you ask

closed questions designed to bring out specifics of the situation? Can you use open

DISCERNING: THE HOW OF USING QUESTIONS

Questions help begin the interview and open conversation. Key sentence stems of certain

open questions may predict client response. Open questions can help clients elaborate and

enrich their stories. “What” tends to lead to facts, “how” to process and feelings, and

“why” to reasons; “could/can/would” are described here as maximally open. Also

Many people have negative experiences with questions. We may have been “put on the

spot” or grilled. It becomes key to determine when and how to use questions effectively.

Several relatively short presentations address key issues in the use of questions. The

headings for these include:

• Questions Help Begin the Interview

• The First Word of Open Questions May Determine Client Response

• Open Questions Help Clients Elaborate and Enrich Their Story

• Questions Can Reveal Concrete Specifics from the Client’s World

List of MindTap resources available for this section:

1. Interactive Exercise: Observation of Questions in Your Daily Interactions. Apply the

OBSERVING QUESTIONS IN ACTION. INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT: CONFLICT

AT WORK

The case of Jamila, who has a conflict at her job, is presented in two examples—one with

closed questions, the other with open questions. The chapter begins with issues around

questions but also emphasizes the important “what else?” question. “What have we

missed?” is an important substitute. The interview, “Conflict at work,” and the process

List of MindTap resources available for this section:

1. Weblink Critique: This exercise helps you examine what different websites say about

questions.

PRACTICING: QUESTIONING SKILLS

List of MindTap resources available for this section:

1. Interactive Exercise: The Power of Questions: An exercise to help you think critically

about questions. This exercise will help you advance your understanding of open and

2. Feedback Form: Feedback: Questions

REFINING: EXTENSIONS OF THE QUESTIONING SKILL

Several relatively short presentations on key topics are presented. We also talk about

questioning with less verbal clients and children. The headings for these segments

include:

List of MindTap resources available for this section:

1. Case Study: Questions Drawing Out Strengths with Difficult Clients. This exercise

DEMONSTRATIONS AND VIDEOS TO SUPPLEMENT ESSENTIALS OF

INTENTIONAL INTERVIEWING, Third Edition

• Live instructor demonstration.

• Consider the possibility of saving good modeling tapes developed in your classes as

• Basic Attending Skills has a modeling on the use of questions. The instructional tape

has subtitles indicating skill use clearly.

• Counseling Children: A Microskills Approach by Mary Bradford Ivey shows how

questions are used with children. However, multiple skill usage is demonstrated.

• Counseling: An Indigenous Perspective by David Rathman. Rathman is particularly

CLASS PROCEDURES

The general outline we use for introducing the concept of questions is presented below.

The model has proven effective again and again but should be modified to fulfill the

needs of your particular group.

1. Introduction. The single skills approach to interviewing distracts some people at first.

Breaking out of single dimensions of communication may be difficult for them, or

they may resist. The story of the Samurai Swordsman may need to be repeated. The

story, or some parallel of it, may be told to introduce this session. Examples could be

Give a very brief introduction to the concepts and the functions of open and closed

questions. Then allow the group to ask you a variety of open and closed questions.

As you respond naturally, they will see the effect of these types of questions. Your

personal modeling and openness can help the group feel more supported and

comfortable. The “plus and minus” of questions may be explored through the

suggested exercise.

We also suggest introducing the issues around questions. This is a good place to have

students share their personal experiences with the skill area and to start the process of

2. Example of the skill in action. The transcript may be read, a live demonstration may

be done in the class, or an audiotape or video example of questioning may be played.

3. Presentation and discussion of key points around questions. Key questions from the

text include:

▲ What are open and closed questions, and how do they affect client conversation?

▲ What are the potential problems of questions in the session?

Headings from the text include:

• Questions Help Begin the Interview

• The First Word of Open Questions May Determine Client Response

• Open Questions Help Clients Elaborate and Enrich Their Story

• Questions Can Reveal Concrete Specifics from the Client’s World

4. Developing intentional competence in questioning skills. We ask for a student

volunteer to serve as client in front of the class. The topic is usually something like a

favorite hobby, leisure time activity, or recent positive experience. We mention to the

5. The positive asset search. A live demonstration helps make the point of the

importance of strengths in the session. We divide students into triads and ask them to

share a “problem” that they have had with interpersonal relations. We spend two

6. Portfolio of competence. At this point, we give considerable attention to the

competence concept. Identification and classification competence is best

demonstrated by simple observation and classification of questions in an interview.

Basic competence is simply asking questions in the interview. Students at this level

are simply required to have “gone through” a role-play or other microtraining

With a small class, we have asked students to bring in audiocassette tapes or video

recorded DVDs in which they demonstrate the several competence concepts, and we

listen to these in a cassette player or watch on a computer. This takes time! But in the

terms we did this, the results of intentional competence seemed at their highest.

Another effective approach is to ask students to listen to each other’s tape or DVD in

pairs. They then can attest that the other student is able to get results. A final

What is most important in the competence concepts is constantly looking at “what

does the client do as a result of the counselor or interviewer intervention?” and then

documenting this result.

GROUP PRACTICE WITH OPEN AND CLOSED QUESTIONS

Step 1: Divide into practice groups.

Step 2: Select a group leader.

Step 3: Assign roles for the first practice session.

Step 4: Plan. The interviewer should plan to use both open and closed questions. It is

important in the practice session that the key what, how, why, and could

questions be used. Add what else? for enrichment.

Discuss a work challenge. The client may share a present or past interpersonal

job conflict. The interviewer first draws out the conflict, then searches for

positive assets and wellness strengths.

Suggested alternative topics include the following:

Step 5: Conduct a three- to six-minute practice session using only questions. The

interviewer practices open and closed questions and may wish to have handy a

Step 6: Review the practice session and provide feedback to the interviewer for 12

minutes. Remember to stop the audio- or videotape periodically and listen to

FEEDBACK FORM: QUESTIONS

Date: ___________________

________________________________ ___________________________________

Name of Interviewer Name of Person Completing Form

1. ___________________________________________________________________________

2. ___________________________________________________________________________

3. ___________________________________________________________________________

4. ___________________________________________________________________________

5. ___________________________________________________________________________

6. ___________________________________________________________________________

7. ___________________________________________________________________________

8. ___________________________________________________________________________

9. ___________________________________________________________________________

10. __________________________________________________________________________________

1. Which questions seemed to provide the most useful client information?

Instructions: List below as completely as possible the questions asked by the interviewer.

Briefly note other comments made. At a minimum, indicate the first key

words of the question (what, why, how, do, are, and so on). Indicate

whether each question was open (O) or closed (C). Use additional paper as

needed.