The path of the interview is largely determined by the types of questions asked. Questions vary in two distinct ways: the amount of freedom the respondent has and how the questions relate to what has happened in the course of the interview.

First, questions vary in terms of how much leeway the interviewee has in generating responses. An open question gives the interviewee great freedom in terms of how to respond. Questions like “What’s it like being a student here?” and “What issues will influence your vote in this election?” allow the interviewee to determine the amount and depth of information provided. Interviewers often ask open questions when the interviewee knows more about a topic than the interviewer does or to help the interviewee relax (there is no “correct” answer, so no answer is wrong).

In other situations, the interviewer will want a more direct answer. Closed questions give less freedom to the interviewee by limiting answers to specific choices. For example, an interviewer conducting a survey of student attitudes toward parking on campus might ask “Do you usually arrive on campus in the morning, afternoon, or evening?” or “Do you use the parking structure or nearby lots?” The simplest form of a closed question is the bipolar question, for which there are only two possible responses, “yes” and “no” (“Do you normally eat breakfast?” “Do you own a car?” “Did you vote in the last election?”). To allow for more variation in their answers, interviewees can be asked to respond to a scale, as with the question “How would you rate parking availability on campus?”

Questions also vary in terms of how they relate to what has happened so far in the interview. Primary questions introduce new topics; secondary questions seek clarification or elaboration of primary question responses. Thus, if interviewing an older family member, you might open by asking “What can you tell me about my family history?” This primary question might then be followed by a number of secondary questions, such as “How did my grandparents meet?” and “How did they deal with their parents’ disapproval of their marriage?” Some of the more common forms of secondary questions are illustrated in Table A.2.