The proliferation of automated conversational systems such as chatbots, spoken-dialogue systems, and smart speakers, has significantly impacted modern digital life. However, these systems are primarily designed to provide answers to well-defined questions rather than to support users in exploring complex, ill-defined questions. In this paper, we aim to push the boundaries of conversational systems by examining the types of nebulous, open-ended questions that can best be answered through conversation. We first sampled 500 questions from one million open-ended requests posted on AskReddit, and then recruited online crowd workers to answer eight inquiries about these questions. We also performed open coding to categorize the questions into 27 different domains. We found that the issues people believe require conversation to resolve satisfactorily are highly social and personal. Our work provides insights into how future research could be geared to align with users' needs.

翻译：自动化对话系统（如聊天机器人、口语对话系统和智能音箱）的普及显著影响了现代数字生活。然而，这些系统主要旨在回答定义明确的问题，而非支持用户探索复杂、定义不明确的问题。本文通过考察哪些模糊、开放式问题最适合通过对话来回答，旨在拓展对话系统的边界。我们首先从AskReddit社区发布的百万条开放式请求中抽样选取500个问题，随后招募在线众包工作者回答关于这些问题的八项询问，并通过开放式编码将问题划分为27个不同领域。研究发现，人们认为需要借助对话才能满意解决的问题具有高度社会性和个人化特征。本研究为未来研究如何更好地契合用户需求提供了启示。