What is the main advantage of open-ended questions compared to closed questions in detective interviews?

Open-ended questions are designed to encourage interviewees to provide more expansive responses, which facilitates a deeper and more informative dialogue. This approach allows individuals to share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences in their own words, leading to richer and more nuanced information that might not surface with closed questions, which typically limit responses to simple affirmations or denials.

By promoting elaboration, open-ended questions help detectives uncover crucial details that can be pivotal in an investigation. For example, instead of asking, "Did you see the suspect?" which would only yield a 'yes' or 'no' answer, an open-ended question like "Can you describe what you saw?" invites the interviewee to narrate their experience, potentially revealing important observations and context that would otherwise be missed.

This method fosters a conversational atmosphere, making it easier for interviewees to feel comfortable sharing information, thus enhancing the quality of the intelligence gathered during the interview process.