Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Today we're going to discuss questioning techniques. There is a very, very valid reason why you need to learn how to question and interview people. Firstly, to get the information you need, remember the term information requirements from the last lecture. And secondly, to test the veracity of the source, is the source lying to you or are they withholding information? Well, not necessarily withholding on purpose, but it's maybe that you have to keep digging to get to that nugget of information that they have for you.

Sometimes people are reluctant to give up information. It's up to you to dig that information out. And that's part of what we're going to do today. So the aims focus on formulating questions, how do you ask the right question to get the right information Improve Your questioning techniques. This will help you number of different levels not only in human intelligence taskings getting information but on a day to day basis. And so, you may obtain more information, the more you dig, the more you get.

And also become more aware of when people are using techniques on you. So if people are starting to use these techniques on you, then you can spot them a lot easier, you can understand and appreciate that they may be trying to gather information from you that you may not want to give up. So content, why do we ask questions, the types of questions, different types of questions and go through a quick summary again, obviously. Why do you ask questions? There we go. First of all, to obtain information to obtain new information to confirm information from various sources which is always good intelligence practice.

And of course the answer our information requirements. This allows us as well to test or assess our source to build rapport, to establish dialogue, and to buy time, which is always very useful. And you'll see this in more more of a practical setting. But to build rapport, you have to ask questions. People don't like it. If you sit there and talk about soccer, or talk about what was on the television yesterday, and you don't ask personal questions.

Some people hate actually being asked personal questions, but it's often taken as rudeness if you don't. So it's a difficult balance. And that's what human intelligence is all about. It's about balance. And I can teach you how to direct control the conversation. That's another reason for asking questions, and it trains up your source.

So that next time you won't have to ask so many detailed questions. They will come up with the answers first, and so on and so on. And it gives them good practice and training at the same time. So what are blocks to good question techniques? Any ideas? lack of training or experience when you're nervous, it's difficult to employ good questioning technique.

There you go. If you ask aggressive or bias questions like why did you buy that Ford car when you could have bought a Jaguar? Which is so much better? Or tell me the answer to this because I need to know Where were you last night, aggressive and biased. Although probably prefer a form instead of your behavior. If you're too close too far away your body language is sending the wrong wrong messages and the same with the the source that is above To good question technique, if the subjects complex and you don't explain it or break it down properly, that's a block.

If you haven't planned it, or your planning was flawed in some way, then that could also lead to poor questioning technique. Asking dumb questions. cat walks past you ask is that a cat? is a dumb question the person or the source is gonna turn around, look at you go, Well, obviously, it's a cat. So what types of questions do we have? Open closed.

Then there's other variations, but these are the most used ones. Well, yes, I am a bit stressed. Why do you ask an open question or a closed question? more open, isn't it because closed is Yes or no? So open questions usually start with who, what, where, when, why, which, or how? And I'll give you some examples.

They encourage conversation, they allow the source to speak and explain. Usually can't be answered in a few words. Sometimes it's a good thing. You want them to feel relaxed to explain something in their own words. But sometimes some people can go on and on and on. So you have to learn how to control that and stop them without damaging report.

And that says it says you may lose, control the conversation as they go, it depends how much time you've got depends on what patience you've got. Some people can prattle on for long periods of time. And if you allow them too much scope, they may go off at tangents. So you're losing the focus of the inflammation. requirement. Yeah, it's good for report because you're encouraging them to talk, they'll relax, they may bend forward as they speak towards you.

It's trying to involve you more in the conversation. So it's a very good Report Builder. And again, it all comes down to town. And their demonstrates interest gives you an open to practice your listening skills and your nonverbal communications, your body language. So you can sit there, you can nod your head, you can put your chin on your hand and go Hmm, this is all very interesting, and send those messages out without actually saying anything. And that's a combination of skills.

The general so you may not get the answer that you're looking for, you may get an indication, but you may get more information that you were bargaining for. That's sometimes a good thing. So remember to have your notebook a pen with you if if you have the opportunity, because there may be problems. leads to other questions that you can note down and ask once they've stopped talking. Now allows them a little bit of freedom in answering, which is fine. And it serves as an open invitation to talk so it encourages them to push out detail.

Tell me a little bit more about that. What time was that? Be? Don't, once they start talking, the only reason you bought in is if there is a very, very important piece of information, or you want to stop or redirect the conversation. It allows you to monitor their behavior. Are they nervous, how's their body language?

Are they getting involved that they're trying to build rapport using body language as well? Are they pushing back? Are they scared of talking? Are they bored of talking? You can you can detect all this from their body language wallet talking allows them to show emotion. And as I said, use that body language.

And it reveals what the source consider considers to be important, not just what you consider to be important, and that may be valuable and maybe some valuable elements to the to those conversations that you haven't even thought of, or you haven't asked about allows his thoughts to participate in exchange, again, an improvement report, which is a critical factor. Make sure that your questioning technique doesn't seem like an interrogation. Tell me or tell me what time tell me exactly what happened. You've got to be able to maintain and build rapport at the same time as getting information because if you piss them off, if they don't like you, or don't like your techniques, what's going to happen? Yeah, they'll probably walk away. They're not going to help you.

So questions Who what, where when, why, how at each point cannot have what they're saying. And then come back to it and drill down. So the who's, who was there? Who did you say? Who did you hear? What are the names, full names, all the wiring for vehicles, whether using so on and so forth.

Each little point when you go to the next one, and then to the next one, but only once you've finished that section of the conversation, but did you meet yesterday? What did you do last night? Where did you do it? What restaurant did you go to? When did you finish? Now?

You're looking for specifics? So if a question like that you're looking for an exact time as possible, they may say about so 10 o'clock at night, so Okay, about 10 o'clock at night, or exactly 10 o'clock at night? I don't know exactly. I didn't look at my watch, but I think we left the restaurant around about 10 o'clock. That's good answer. Most people don't check their watches at Every section of their life so to get a pretty firm about is always good unless your time is a critical component to your information requirements.

How did you travel to work this morning? The usual way I walked from here and then got the bus to work okay, great. Now break it down get the times what time did you leave your house? How did you get from your house to the bus stop? Show me the route you can use a map busted yet? What number did you get?

What time did you get on who was on why did you sit? Why did you get off? so on and so forth? What was the bus company? There's lots of questions you can ask for four elements to that. But make sure it doesn't seem like you're at the dentist and so they're at the dentist because they will not come back and speak to you again.

So why questions? produce reasons? Why did you do that? Can you give a history it can give sorry, a history and an opinion. Why are you married? It's a very good question that can open up a whole can of worms as well.

But this is just an example. Why did you buy that shirt? And the way you ask the question can mean that it's a you mean they're good choice, or you applaud a good choice? Why did the UK vote for Brexit? Oh, come from the UK. I have absolutely no idea.

But it's a good way of getting the sources answer from them, but also their opinion. Just like I gave you the opinion. When I gave that answer. It was, I don't really know. Yeah, I don't understand that concept of why they voted for breakfast at breakfast. Excuse me for bread.

All right first again, for Brexit I have no idea but but you see the point the point is you answer a question like Why? And you get not only the answer, but generally you get the opinion. Why did you want to do dentistry can lead to endless futilely explanations, so you have to control them can annoy the subject if it seems critical, can be seen as accusatory, why did you buy that pink shirt and why are you wearing it? Why did you leave the country? travel by net Metro? Why didn't you do something about this?

That sounds accusatory. So you have to be very careful about those that rapport building. So how questions associated with sequence and process and feelings? How did you feel about this? How did you feel when your dog died? How do you make a cup of tea?

How'd you do? feel when you were invited to this training? Maybe you weren't? How are you? That can open up the can of worms, especially if they're not well, and they want to tell you all about it. So be prepared for complex answers that you may have to break into and sort of bring to a halt while still building the rapport.

So some disadvantages of open questions. Unnecessary timing pack that could take quite a while to answer properly, subject my talk and talk, but not about what your information requirement is. Because the chatty because they want to avoid the question that's quite common. Because they're downloaders. They want to talk forever, they just download I have friends who just cannot stop talking. Once they get going.

They'll talk about pretty much anything. and difficult to write notes without losing control the meeting, sometimes you you'll want to take notes, because there may be critical points that come up in the conversation while they're talking. Maybe Some body language that may flag up that they lying about something. So taking notes is always very useful in certain intelligence organizations you're working so that one will be doing the questioning and we'll be watching the source. Close questions extract a piece of information but they don't encourage that further discussion which is good. That means you have control of the conversation.

But you may also have to ask follow up questions. If you think relevant. They often begin when the dude is the odd dead was a word. Can and usually are answered yes or no. Now kids are great for this. Because if they can get away with answering just yes or just No, they will.

That can be used to validate information. You said the car was blue Yes. Okay, number plate was ABC 1234. And no, the number plate was ABC 1235. Okay. It can be used to control sources.

I use stickball to yes or no answers and it limits that conversation but it does start become a little bit like an interrogation and you can direct it so you can ask a few close questions and as soon as you get to the area are most interested in open up the questions a bit more. some disadvantages get less information back. Will the attack be carried out tomorrow? Yes. But when? When exactly will the attack be carried out?

Oh, tomorrow nine o'clock. Come by work by Metro. Yes. Which line did you use the yellow line then the red line. They can give away information I can give away What you don't know, if you're asking specific close questions, but you can also be using to validate the source. An old police trick is to ask questions, get the answers, carry on the interviews, and then close to the end.

Maybe when you're doing a summary. You ask the same questions again, maybe in different different style. If you get the same answer, that's fine. It seems like it's, it seems more likely it comes from memory. Whereas if you get started to get different answers, then you go well, hold on, you said at the start that the color was blue. Now you're saying it's green.

Can you explain the discrepancy? What is inside the apartment? So if you're asking someone other any services inside the apartment, you're going to get a yes or no answer. Yeah, there are or if You ask what or who is inside the apartment, you're more likely to get well as a family of five. A mother father, three kids. Oh, and there's two insurgents.

Okay, perfect. Thank you. So some of the benefits, reliability of data, as you see there in this sort of matrix for open questions, reliabilities bit lower, closed questions higher. And then when you get down to ease of analysis, it's difficult to it's more difficult to analyze open questions because there's more more information, it can be more complex. And of course, it's a little easier if you're using closed questions, as far as analysis goes, a pretty definitive Yes, no. can seem like an interrogation.

If they're all yes or no questions, and you wouldn't Do that, for instance, if you're talking to your friends walking down the street, who would get very boring very quickly pull their entries yes or no. And you're asking lots and lots of questions. It would seem like a bizarre conversation. So you have to relax it a bit, open it up, use more open questions, to build rapport and get more detail. But use yes or no close questions. When you're looking for those specifics.

Did you see any weapons? Yes. And then you open up the question, what type of weapons Did you see? I saw pistols ak 40, sevens. RPGs. Okay, how many of each?

And then you get more specific I saw two pistols 10 ak 47 to RPGs. Okay. And then you're drilling down more into the questioning techniques again. can lead to some assumptions. Who? Just for that, were there lots of people?

Yes. Okay. You've got on to follow up questions, don't you go say, Okay, how many 50? How many males? How many females? 20 males?

30 Females. Okay. So yeah, it can it can. You've got to drill down from the close question. So whether lots of people with them, yes or no? is really the only appropriate answer when he says no.

Okay. Whether it was there anyone with him? Yeah, there's one person, but not a lot. Just one. Okay. So you got to ask those follow up questions for clarity.

Good word, questions. Encourage opinion. They do allow for discussion and you don't always want to discuss things when you're handling a source. Could you clap Whenever asked who could I? Yeah, I'm sure I could given the right training the right equipment, maybe a helicopter drop me off? Two thirds of the way up?

Would you give first aid to an editor for her? Ooh. Yeah. That's a tough one. And you're gonna get some interesting points, interesting discussion points out of this and maybe some insight into your sources, thought processes. Whoever assumption is always the possibility that you've got to be very, very careful that they answer the questions you don't answer them in your head.

So as far as the meeting goes, the greeting the report, talking about the next meeting, and you tend to to talk about next meeting right at the start in case something disrupts this meeting, and you have to separate So what's next? You're both in the restaurant, you've just sat down at the table. Hi, how are you? Good to see you again. You're looking great. Oh, by the way, let's meet this time next Friday.

And all of a sudden there's a fire in the kitchen. Everyone evacuated and you lose your source. You've already made that next meeting for Friday. So, right in the first few minutes Are you well, how you doing? All those sort of questions could invite lots of discussion right at the very start. No, I have cancer.

No, damage my leg while I'm skiing. I did this. I did that and then you have to listen. So it's better off to ask more closed questions at the start. So controlling the conversation. The next point is the information extraction, open questions and some precise closed questions.

All right. You remember Information requirement. Tell me the information you have. Regarding that you're setting the parameters. I want information only on the information requirements at this stage. Carry on.

So you let them Rambo, you take notes. At the end of maybe the first few paragraphs you stop them just to clarify, go back. Tell me a bit more about this. Tell me the color of that. Tell me the weapons you saw here, and then back on to the story. And then at the end, the last 50% you're looking at confirming the next meet.

Okay, you said it at the beginning that now you want to say you've managed to stay through the length of the interview the meeting. Now you're confirming at the end, so we'll be right to the front of their mind. The next meeting will be next Friday, same time, same place. And also a recap, recaps are very valuable. So you're looking at three notes you sent, okay. You said that car was green?

Or no, no, sorry, you said it was blue. And that's an essential trick as well as actually changing the answer and getting them to validate it. So previously, we talked about the blue car. When you're doing the recap, you say, Okay, well, you mentioned that these four guys got into that red car. And now the source should and stop you at that point go No, no, I said blue. Okay, yeah, sorry.

Yep. That's you've just validated his answer. You haven't had to ask him the question. Again. He's given you the answer. And it's the way you've sort of gone through the recap.

You don't do that for every single point. But it's good to throw in every now and then and pretend that you You missed the correct answer, and let them reconfirm it and continue building rapport. Great, that was fantastic. I'm looking forward to seeing you again. We're having a great relationship and I'm very happy that you choose to pass this information. Three so on and so forth, blow smoke up their ass, shake their hands and meet them again next Friday.

So avoid leading questions. This is a favorite police trick. So you saw john pick up the pistol pointed the victim, take aim and shoot her in the head. Well, that's the state really. And that's a statement from me to him to our source or the person we're interviewing said no, no would be the answer to that probably. And then you'd have to start again.

So it's a leading question. If the source said yes to that, then he's just admitted to seeing john pick up the pistol pointed at the victim. Take a shooter in there, which may actually not be the case, but you've delivered all those facts in one leading question. probably read it say tell me what you saw in the carpark and then the source will say I saw john pick a pistol point to the victim take him but then he did not shoot her in the head. Okay, good. That's about Pick and choose when you want the source to say what you want him to say.

Which is bad practice. What they mistreated? Yes. What's the definition of mistreatment? My my definition will be different from yours. My definition will be different from the sources.

So better to say how would they treat it? And this is a favorite of wives, compound multiple questions, a ton of questions in one question to which you can answer yes or no. Did you go to the shop to get the milk Did you fill the car with fuel? Did you collect the kid from school? Yes. But no, I did go to the shop.

I did get the milk. I did fill the car with fuel. But I've forgot the kid. negative positive questions, questions about the structure and the way you ask forces a negative response. You don't really like that guy, do you? If someone says that to you, they're looking for a negative respond.

No, I don't know. I definitely don't like him. You wouldn't lend me $10 would you? know I wouldn't better. Could you please lend me $10? Because you've said you wouldn't.

You've already put them on the backfoot you're already putting pressure on them. So that pressurizing negative positive questions pressurizes the source to say what you want them to say? You didn't notice any suspicious military activity when you travel the road. Did you know you could do this, couldn't you? climb Everest, no. Easy for the sauce.

Just To say no. And people will often take the path of least resistance people are generally lazy. And so if you give them an option just to say no to something, by the way, you ask the question, they'll just say no to something. Detail logical persistent questioning them. This is pretty much you see something, it's valuable for your information requirements, you dig down. So when I was asking about the weapons, the two pistols, the AK s and the RPGs, you want to dig down a bit more as much as possible, who had what weapon?

The one person or two weapons I did one person have a pistol and an AK, or a pistol in an RPG or an RPG in a pistol. Were the men armed with women, not what the women armed with what were the men armed with and so on and so forth. You keep digging down, digging down digging out. So in summary, we are To ask, why do we ask questions to get the information? What types of questions are generally open closed? And how do we use those different types of questions?

Start maybe more closed questions so we can control the conversation. Then a bit more open and back to the recap your son to ask more closed questions again, to to get the villa to ascertain the validity of the questions and the answers. Some questions to avoid multiple complex questions and summary, practice at home. Practice on your kids and your wife. Mix them max your questions. This is something that you can't just do overnight.

This is why detectives only become detectives after a certain amount of time, certain amount of experience. It's quite complex to ask the right questions at the right time and still build rapport with your source. And that's what you want to do. She's starting to ask questions that piss them off, then you might not see him again. And You've spoiled that, that relationship, which could be valuable to getting the eyes. Okay guys, been fun.

Look forward to the next lecture which is questioning strategies, which goes into more detail. Thanks for your time.