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Not all questions are equal.

Some are easy to answer, but don’t deliver useful insight.

Other questions can reveal a lot about the way we think, feel and behave...

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Here’s Qual Street’s take on what makes a good question, starting poor, getting better and ending great!

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Poor question

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Poor Question...

Why do you like it?

It’s a natural question to ask, and people always like to tell you what they like or dislike about something.

Actually they are giving their opinion in answer to this question, and that’s something rational, thoughtful, and may be very different from real behaviour, real feelings

and responses. Beware!

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Poor Question...

When would you use it?

Here you are asking people to think about future behaviour. But people don’t know their

futures, and are poor judges of their own intentions. One to avoid.

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Poor Question...

Can you explain to me how

this product works?

This puts respondents back into the classroom and can feel for them like you are testing their intelligence. That’s not what we’re interested in (most times) so be careful of what you are

doing here.

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Poor Question...

How likely would you be to buy it?

Future facing questions are pretty impossible for people to answer realistically, so they are best avoided. Respondents will give you an

answer, and then that answer will be hard to ignore in analysis, so best left unsaid.

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Good question!

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Good Question!

A nice open question to ask someone when they first encounter a new idea. It lets them respond in any way they want. But beware! It lets people respond rationally to an idea too, so you want to listen out for this, and

encourage emotional responses too.

What’s your reaction to this?

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Good Question!

What are your doubts about this?

People often mask negativity. Think how often we sit on our thoughts in any given day.

So encouraging people to open up - and to acknowledge doubts is a good idea. However,

the danger is getting an overly considered response, so care is needed.

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Good Question!

Think back, on which occasions would you

have used this?

People can’t know their future behaviour, but they can access their past (to some degree!). Getting people to think

realistically about how a new product idea could have fitted into an occasion in the past help delivers a realistic view on a product’s

relevance.

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Good Question!

How sure are you about this product?

A lot of the time people don’t really know what they think about new things - so they adopt other people’s views (which is how opinions move and

shift). So asking someone about how sure they feel about an idea can help you understand if they are

following or leading opinions...

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Good Question!

What haven’t you told me that you’re

thinking?

People keep their thoughts back all the time, so encouraging full disclosure is

useful.

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Good Question!

I think you’re tell-ing me x,y,z about this - that right?

Checking comprehension is always a good idea - and it gives respondents a chance to add

more, clarify or dispute an issue.

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Good Question!

How does it compare with what you buy at

the moment?

Weighing up by comparing and contrasting is part of the decision making process that we all

go through when deciding if we want something, so bringing this out into the

discussion is a good idea.

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Great question!

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Great Question!

This is a great question because it’s purposefully vague. These kinds of

questions allow for creative connections, forcing people to link what they know with the new idea

under discussion. Great for the ‘storming’ stages of a group

discussion and in workshops...

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Great Question!

This reflects people’s natural bias for ‘loss aversion’. We dislike losing something more than we like gaining it. Asking respondents

what they could lose out on helps reflect the kinds of processes we go through we we make

decisions.

What could you lose out on if you bought this?

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Great Question!

What would you tell someone about this

product?

We know that adoption of new products and ideas is linked to social interaction. So

uncovering what people would say about a new idea to someone else is a great way to

establish this. Also it’s a good checking question - to see what someone really makes

of a product or idea. Two for the price of one!

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Great Question!

Who in your family or social circle would you

expect to buy this product?

We like to follow others, and we like to follow people we respect. This question helps reveal who respondents think the

product is for, and it allows the researcher to find out if the new idea is associated

with ‘winners’ or ‘leaders’ too...

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