The very nature of a user interview is that it is revelatory. It allows you to ask users questions in a way that you get the most insights out of them. Open-ended questions are a great way to derive unconstrained responses from users that are not limited to one word like “Yes,” “No,” or “Maybe.”

Open-ended questions usually start with “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” “why,” and “how,” which prompts participants to share more.

A study that has too many close-ended questions will provide results that are too shallow. To gain deeper and richer insights from your users, ask them open-ended questions that allow them to articulate in any manner they choose.

Here are examples of each type of question:

• Close-ended question: Do you like our product?
• Open-ended question: What feature(s) do you like/dislike the most about our product and why?