How to Start a Conversation with 3 Question Types

Factual Questions: These are questions that are typically conversational in nature and revolve around factual information.  Factual questions are great for conversation starters.  Here are some examples:

• Where did you grow up?
• How long have you worked here?
• What sports or activities did you do when you were a kid?

Causative Questions: These questions determine the motives or causative factors behind some of the answers to factual questions.  They are typically the “why” and “what questions”.  Causative questions build on the conversation starters allowing to you engage on a deeper level.  Here are some examples:

• How did you happen to come to work for this organization?
• How did you get involved with that hobby or activity?

Value-based Questions:  These questions that help determine a person’s value system.  They are designed to help understand the “worth” that an individual places on certain things.  These are questions that people are probably rarely asked and give a greater view of the inner person.  Value-based questions allow you to deeply understand the other person.  Here are some examples:

• Tell me about a person that had a major impact on your life.
• If you had to do it over again, what, if anything, would you do differently?
• How did that youth hobby or activity end up serving you as an adult?

Access all 30 Dale Carnegie principles in a convenient PDF guide, Dale Carnegie’s Secrets of Success.​​​​​​​