Course: CMM 128 Interviewing Practices

Lecture Notes

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Rules of Thumb About Classifying Questions

Rules of Thumb about classifying questions

1.  All bipolar questions are closed.
2.  All nudging probes are open, secondary, and neutral.
3.  All reflective questions are secondary and neutral.
4.  All mirror questions are secondary and neutral.
5.  All clearinghouse questions are secondary and neutral.
6.  All loaded questions are leading but not all leading questions are loaded.

Using these rules of thumb, a table showing all the possible classification permutations can be created using the following abbreviations:

O/C = Open or closed
P/S = Primary or secondary
N/L = Neutral or leading
BI = Bipolar
NP = Nudging Probe
RE = Reflective
MI = Mirror
CL = Clearinghouse
LO = Leading

In the first column is listed a known characteristic of a question.  In the other columns, is listed the other possible ways the question may be classified.  For example, given that a question is bipolar, it must be classified as closed, it could be either primary or secondary, it could be either neutral or leading, it must be bipolar, it cannot be a nudging probe, it might be a reflective probe, it might be a mirror probe, it might be a clearinghouse question, and it might be loaded.

Table showing the possible classification of a question given that you know one characteristic about the question.

Given that a question is | O/C | P/S | N/L | BI | NP | RE | MI | CL | LO
Bipolar | C | Either | Either | Yes | NO | Almost always | Yes | Maybe | Maybe
Closed | C | Either | Either | Maybe | NO | Maybe | Maybe | Maybe | Maybe
Open | O | Either | Either | NO | Maybe | Maybe | Maybe | Maybe | Maybe
A Nudging Probe | O | S | N | NO | Yes | NO | NO | NO | NO
Reflective | C | S | N | Maybe | NO | Yes | NO | NO | NO
Mirror | C | S | N | Maybe | NO | NO | Yes | NO | NO
Clearinghouse | Either | S | N | Maybe | NO | NO | NO | Yes | NO
Primary | Either | P | Either | Maybe | NO | NO | NO | NO | Maybe
Secondary | Either | S | Either | Maybe | Maybe | Maybe | Maybe | Maybe | Maybe
Neutral | Either | Either | N | Maybe | Maybe | Maybe | Maybe | Maybe | NO
Leading | Either | Either | L | Maybe | NO | NO | NO | NO | Maybe
Loaded | Either | Either | L | Maybe | NO | NO | NO | NO | Yes

These make good exam questions.  Some examples are below.

True    False    All mirror questions are secondary.

True    False    All closed questions are bipolar.

True    False    If a question is a mirror question, it cannot be a reflective question.