When listening for informational purposes, you may ask primary and secondary questions, which first seek information and then clarify the speaker’s message (see the Interviewing Appendix). Secondary questions are particularly useful in job interviews because they show the interviewer that you are an engaged listener who desires to learn more specific information about the position and organization.
When you listen to a weather report on the radio, attend a lecture, or hear the details of your significant other’s day at work, your primary goal is to understand what’s being said. Through this process of informational listening (sometimes referred to as comprehensive listening), you seek to understand a message. As a student, you use informational listening extensively to understand concepts and information your instructors are presenting to you. Anyone giving you directions, providing instructions, or telling a story all require informational listening from you.
Questions are important aids to informational listening. Through questioning techniques, you coordinate what the speaker is saying with what you are hearing. Asking such questions signals that you are listening; it also indicates to the speaker that you are tuned in and interested. Questions can also help a speaker become more effective by getting to the points that will do the listener the most good.