There are two main types of questions that can be used in surveys: open-ended and closed-ended. You can ask essentially the same question both ways, but each type of question will produce very different information.
Open-ended questions allow respondents to provide their own answers. Since there are no predefined answer choices, participants can draw on their full knowledge, feelings, and understanding in their response (Question Pro, n.d.). Open-ended questions are best used for discovery. They help us learn what we don’t already know.
Closed-ended questions ask respondents to choose from a set of predefined answer choices. They are often used to gather data that can be easily analyzed (Question Pro, n.d.). Closed-ended questions are best used for extrapolation and help us see how the trends we already know about are distributed among a particular population.
It’s also important to note that sometimes an open-ended question can be embedded in a closed-ended question. For example, when you are drafting closed-ended questions, you should consider that some individuals might believe that the response options provided do not capture their experience, which can be frustrating for some participants. This also means that you will miss other possible responses that you have not anticipated but might provide insights into your research question. To remedy this, you could include an “other” option where participants can offer a response that more closely matches what they think or feel. In this case, the question would have both open- and closed-ended options (Carr et al., 2018).
Check out this video for an introduction to open- and closed- ended questions.
Personal Project
Start by listing what you would like to learn from your survey. Then, decide if your topics are better suited for open- or closed-ended questions and try to write a list of all the questions you might want to ask. Don’t stress about getting the perfect questions yet; start by including any idea for a survey question you might have to help answer your research question. Later on, you can learn about refining these questions and selecting the best ones to include in your survey.
The next two pages explore more about the uses, advantages, and limitations of open- and closed- ended questions. You could also skip ahead to read about Crafting High Quality Questions.
