Which of the following best describes open questions?

Open questions are designed to encourage detailed and expansive responses from the person being asked. These types of questions invite the respondent to share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences rather than limiting them to a simple acknowledgment or a short reply. By formulating a question in an open-ended manner, the speaker allows for richer dialogue and more comprehensive insights, facilitating a deeper understanding of the topic or issue at hand.

In contrast, questions that can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no" do not elicit extensive information and instead only scrape the surface of a topic. Similarly, questions that limit the conversation or require a single-word answer do not provide the depth of information that open questions aim to capture. Thus, the characteristic of openness inherent in these questions plays a crucial role in promoting thoughtful communication.