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Open-ended questions and examples.

An open-ended question is one people answer in their own words, not with yes, no or a pick from a list. It asks how, what or why, so you hear what people think instead of which box they tick. Below are 120 examples, a table of closed questions made open, and tips for asking a whole room at once.

Sample

Talk it through

What’s the one thing we must get right this month?

Collect answers from the whole room as a live word cloud – free for 100 people.

Open vs closed questions

A closed question gets a yes, a no or a pick from a list. That is quick to count but tells you little about why. Here are 10 closed questions rewritten as open ones.

Closed questions and the same questions rewritten as open-ended questions
Closed questionOpen-ended version
Did you like the session?Which part of the session was most useful to you?
Is the plan clear?Which part of the plan would you explain differently?
Any questions?What questions do you have so far?
Was the workload OK this sprint?How did the workload feel this sprint, and what would change it?
Do you agree with the decision?What do you think of the decision, and what worries you about it?
Did you understand the chapter?What is the main idea of the chapter, in your own words?
Are you happy in your role?What would make your role more satisfying?
Was the event useful?What will you do differently after this event?
Should we launch on Monday?What needs to be true for us to launch on Monday?
Do you like the new logo?What does the new logo say to you?

120 open-ended question examples

Word cloud questions take short answers the whole room can give at once. Q&A questions suit a live Q&A, where people post answers and upvote the best. Talk it through questions need longer answers, out loud or in pairs.

Team meetings

  1. What’s the one thing we must get right this month?Talk it through
  2. What’s making this project harder than it needs to be?Talk it through
  3. In one word, what are you most excited about on this project?Word cloud
  4. Where do you think we’re losing time?Talk it through
  5. What did we learn from the last launch?Talk it through
  6. How would you explain this project to a new customer?Talk it through
  7. What should we stop, start and continue?Talk it through
  8. What’s one word for the mood on this team right now?Word cloud
  9. What would you do first if you led this project for a week?Talk it through
  10. What questions do you have about the new plan?Talk it through
  11. What does “done” mean for this task?Talk it through
  12. Which risk worries you most?Word cloud
  13. What would our customers say about our work this month?Talk it through
  14. What’s one thing you need from another team?Word cloud
  15. What would you change about how we run this meeting?Talk it through
  16. What surprised you in last quarter’s results?Talk it through
  17. Where could we work more closely with another team?Talk it through
  18. What would help you say no to low-priority work?Talk it through

Workshops and training

  1. Which word comes to mind when you hear today’s topic?Word cloud
  2. Where will you use what you learn today?Talk it through
  3. What was the clearest point so far?Word cloud
  4. What’s still unclear?Word cloud
  5. How would you explain this idea to a friend?Talk it through
  6. What would stop you from using this at work?Talk it through
  7. Which example from today fits your job best?Talk it through
  8. What would you add to this checklist?Talk it through
  9. What’s one step you’ll take this week?Word cloud
  10. What would you ask the trainer right now?Talk it through
  11. What does good look like for this skill?Talk it through
  12. What did you notice in the role play?Talk it through
  13. How is this different from what you do now?Talk it through
  14. What would make this training more useful?Talk it through
  15. Which part would you like to practice again?Word cloud
  16. Sum up today’s session in one word.Word cloud
  17. What would you teach someone else from today?Talk it through
  18. What will you try first?Word cloud

Classes (13+)

  1. What do you think will happen next in the story?Talk it through
  2. Why do you think the author chose this ending?Talk it through
  3. What would you have done in this character’s place?Talk it through
  4. How would you test this idea?Talk it through
  5. What patterns do you notice in this data?Talk it through
  6. Which word best describes this period in history?Word cloud
  7. What would you ask a scientist about this?Talk it through
  8. How could we solve this problem another way?Talk it through
  9. What’s the most important idea from today’s lesson?Word cloud
  10. What surprised you in this experiment?Talk it through
  11. What makes an argument convincing?Talk it through
  12. What’s one word for the mood of this poem?Word cloud
  13. How does this connect to something you already know?Talk it through
  14. What evidence supports your answer?Talk it through
  15. What would change if this invention had never existed?Talk it through
  16. What’s still confusing about this topic?Word cloud
  17. What do you want to know more about after today?Word cloud
  18. If you could ask this historical figure one question, what would it be?Talk it through

Events and conferences

  1. What’s the biggest challenge in your field right now?Word cloud
  2. Which idea from this morning will you take back to your team?Talk it through
  3. What should the next speaker know about this room?Talk it through
  4. Which topic should we cover next year?Word cloud
  5. What did the last session change for you?Talk it through
  6. What’s one word for the energy in this room?Word cloud
  7. What question would you like the panel to answer?Q&A
  8. What surprised you most today?Word cloud
  9. What would make this event better next year?Talk it through
  10. Who should we invite to speak next time, and why?Talk it through
  11. What’s one thing you’ll do differently on Monday?Word cloud
  12. What problem did you come here hoping to solve?Talk it through
  13. Which idea from today would you like to argue with?Talk it through
  14. What would you like to hear more about this afternoon?Word cloud
  15. How will you share what you learned here?Talk it through
  16. What theme connects the talks you’ve seen today?Talk it through

Feedback and retrospectives

  1. What went well this sprint?Word cloud
  2. What didn’t go to plan, and why?Talk it through
  3. What should we try differently next time?Talk it through
  4. How would you describe this quarter to someone outside the team?Talk it through
  5. What got in your way?Talk it through
  6. What helped you most this month?Talk it through
  7. What would you tell a team starting this project tomorrow?Talk it through
  8. Which decision would you make differently?Talk it through
  9. What’s one process we should drop?Word cloud
  10. What did you learn about how we work together?Talk it through
  11. What feedback haven’t you had a chance to give?Talk it through
  12. What made the biggest difference to the result?Talk it through
  13. Where did we communicate well, and where didn’t we?Talk it through
  14. What would make the next sprint calmer?Talk it through
  15. What’s one word for how you feel about the launch?Word cloud
  16. What should the next team know before they start?Talk it through
  17. What do you wish you’d known at the start?Talk it through
  18. Which small fix would save the most time?Word cloud

Brainstorming

  1. How might we halve the time this takes?Q&A
  2. What would we do if we had twice the budget?Q&A
  3. What’s the simplest version of this idea?Talk it through
  4. Which customer problem should we solve next?Q&A
  5. What would a competitor do in our place?Talk it through
  6. What’s an idea that sounds silly but might work?Q&A
  7. What words come to mind for the new name?Word cloud
  8. What would make this ten times better?Q&A
  9. What could we remove without anyone noticing?Q&A
  10. How would we solve this with no technology at all?Talk it through
  11. What would this look like for a first-time user?Talk it through
  12. Which idea on the board excites you most, and why?Talk it through
  13. What’s one assumption we should test?Q&A
  14. If we started from scratch, what would we build?Talk it through
  15. What should our next experiment be?Q&A
  16. What’s the biggest question we haven’t asked yet?Q&A

Leadership Q&A

  1. What would you like the leadership team to explain better?Q&A
  2. What’s one question you want answered before the next all-hands?Q&A
  3. What should leaders stop doing?Q&A
  4. Which decision this year would you like to understand better?Q&A
  5. What’s one word for how you feel about the company’s direction?Word cloud
  6. What would make it easier to raise a concern?Q&A
  7. What do you need from leadership this quarter?Q&A
  8. What’s one thing leaders should hear more often?Q&A
  9. What change would make the biggest difference to your work?Q&A
  10. What would you ask the CEO if you knew you’d get a straight answer?Q&A
  11. What’s one thing about our plans that worries you?Q&A
  12. Which goal should we drop so we can focus on the rest?Q&A
  13. What should we keep doing as we grow?Q&A
  14. What’s one word you’d use for our culture today?Word cloud
  15. What would you do in leadership’s place?Talk it through
  16. What should the next town hall be about?Q&A

How to ask open-ended questions well

  1. Start with how, what or why. “What worked?” invites an answer. “Did it work?” invites a nod.
  2. Ask one thing at a time. “What went well and what should change?” is two questions, and people answer the easier one.
  3. Give people time. Count to ten in your head before you fill the silence, or let everyone write a note first.
  4. Be specific. “What was the hardest part of the rollout?” gets better answers than “Any thoughts?”
  5. Show what you do with the answers. Read some out, group them, and say what will change. People answer more honestly the next time.

How to collect answers from a whole room

In a small group, go round the table or use pairs: everyone talks for a minute, then each pair shares one point with the room.

In a room of 30 or 300, ask for a short answer and run it as a live word cloud. Everyone answers at once from a phone, the most common answers grow biggest, and you see the pattern in seconds.

For ideas, or questions people want answered, use a live Q&A. People post, everyone upvotes, and the strongest points rise to the top. Turn off names and it stays anonymous.

Longer, personal answers still work best in conversation. Talk them through in pairs and note the main points yourself.

How to make sense of many answers

Read everything once before you sort it. Then group the answers into three to five themes and count how many land in each.

Quote two or three answers in people’s own words when you report back. A real sentence carries more weight than a percentage.

For short answers, a word cloud does the first pass for you: the biggest words are the most common ones. Look at the small words too, because the useful surprise is often there.

FAQ

Questions about open-ended questions

What is an open-ended question?
A question people answer in their own words, not with yes, no or a choice from a list. Open-ended questions usually start with how, what or why.
What are some examples of open-ended questions?
“What did we learn from the last launch?”, “Where will you use what you learn today?” and “What surprised you in this experiment?” This page has 120 examples, sorted by setting.
What is the difference between open and closed questions?
A closed question has a fixed set of answers: yes or no, a number, or a choice from a list. An open question lets people answer however they like. Closed questions are quicker to count. Open questions tell you why.
How do you ask open-ended questions in a big group?
Ask for a short answer and collect it as a live word cloud, so everyone answers at once from a phone and the common answers stand out. For ideas, use a live Q&A where people post and upvote. In RiLiFi, the free plan covers 100 people per session.
Are open-ended questions good for surveys?
Yes, in small numbers. One or two open questions after the closed ones tell you why people answered the way they did. Ask too many and people skip them or write one word.
How do you summarize a lot of answers?
Group the answers into three to five themes, count how many fall in each, and quote a few in people’s own words. For short answers, a word cloud does the first pass: the biggest words are the most common.