Good Questioning Techniques (print ref: Part 4, Section 4.2)
The process of gathering information during an Audit will be made more effective by giving careful thought and attention to the way that you actually ask questions. Auditors should find it helpful to be aware of the following techniques:
Open Questions
An "open" question is one that cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no" and prompts the member of staff to provide further information. "Open" questions usually begin with any of the following:
- What? Why? Where? When? Who? How?
Other good ways of starting open questions include:
- Can you show me?
- What if? (but try not to be too hypothetical)
Directed Questioning
Directed questioning is a technique where the Auditor starts off with a general opening question on a particular topic and follows this up with a sequence of further questions each of which is narrower in scope than the previous one. The final question in the sequence should then end with the member of staff giving a specific answer to the question posed.
Inviting a Negative Response
Staff often feel under a lot of pressure to always answer questions positively during an audit. The Auditor should try and make it acceptable to admit to something negative by careful posing of the question. For example, staff would invariably answer the following question in a positive way (i.e. with a "no"):
- Have you ever made a mistake in your job?
This question could be rephrased as follows to make it acceptable for the member of staff to admit to making errors with a "yes" answer:
- It is only human to make the occasional slip-up in our jobs, can you describe to me an occasion when you made a slight mistake recently?
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