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）的普及已深刻影响了现代数字生活。然而，这些系统主要设计用于回答明确界定的问题，而非支持用户探索复杂、模糊不清的问题。本文旨在通过研究那些最适合通过对话来回答的模糊、开放式问题，拓展对话系统的边界。我们首先从AskReddit上发布的100万个开放式问题中抽样了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调研。我们还采用开放式编码方法将这些问题归入27个不同领域。研究发现，人们认为需要通过对话才能令人满意地解决的问题高度涉及社会性与个人化层面。本研究为未来研究方向如何契合用户需求提供了启示。