Open-ended vs. closed-ended questions
Your questionnaire can include open-ended or closed-ended questions or a combination of both. Using closed-ended questions limits your responses, while open-ended questions enable a broad range of answers. You'll need to balance these considerations with your available time and resources.
Closed-ended questions
Closed-ended, or restricted-choice, questions offer respondents a fixed set of choices to select from. Closed-ended questions are best for collecting data on categorical or quantitative variables.
Categorical variables can be nominal or ordinal. Quantitative variables can be interval or ratio. Understanding the type of variable and level of measurement means you can perform appropriate statistical analyses for generalizable results.
Diagram image pending upload by Admin.
Examples of closed-ended questions for different variables
Nominal variables include categories that can't be ranked, such as race or ethnicity. This includes binary or dichotomous categories.
It's best to include categories that cover all possible answers and are mutually exclusive. There should be no overlap between response items.
In binary or dichotomous questions, you'll give respondents only two options to choose from.
Example: Nominal variables
What is your race?
- a) White
- b) African
- c) American
- d) Asian
Are you satisfied with the current work-from-home policies?
- a) Yes
- b) No
Ordinal variables include categories that can be ranked. Consider how wide or narrow a range you'll include in your response items, and their relevance to your respondents.
Example: Ordinal variables
What is your age?
- a) 16-35
- b) 36-60
- c) 61-75
- d) 76 or older
Likert scale questions collect ordinal data using ratings scales with 5 or 7 points.
Example: Likert-type questions
How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your online shopping experience today?
- a) Very dissatisfied
- b) Somewhat dissatisfied
- c) Somewhat satisfied
- d) Very satisfied
When you have four or more Likert-type questions, you can treat the composite data as quantitative data on an interval scale. Intelligence tests, psychological scales, and personality inventories use multiple Likert-type questions to collect interval data.
Pros and cons closed-ended questions
Well-designed closed-ended questions are easy to understand and can be answered quickly. However, you might still miss important answers that are relevant to respondents. An incomplete set of response items may force some respondents to pick the closest alternative to their true answer. These types of questions may also miss out on valuable detail.
To solve these problems, you can make questions partially closed-ended, and include an open-ended option where respondents can fill in their own answer.