Open-Ended vs Closed-Ended Questions | Know about 5 Key Differences.
The way you ask the question determines the kind of answer you get in return. Unless you can read the mind of others you cant get answers from them. And If you want to get actionable answers, you must ask right questions.
Hence, before designing a survey you need to have clarity as to what your objective is and you also need to have a good understanding about Open and Closed- Ended Questions is required.
While Open-Ended Questions are broad and can be answered in detail (Tell me something about yourself?), Closed-ended questions are either answered in a single word or answer has to be picked up from limited multiple-choice options ( Did you enjoy the food ? Yes/No).
Lets Cover more in the Article and understand
- What are Open-Ended Questions? (Quick Overview)
- What are Closed-Ended Questions? (Quick Overview)
- 5 Differences between Open-Ended vs Closed-Ended Questions?
What are Open-Ended Questions?
In simple words, Open-ended questions are those cannot be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Unlike Closed-Ended Question the response to questions is not limited to a set of options; and instead require the respondent to elaborate on their perspective .
Open-ended questions motivates people to incorporate their own information, perspective and point of view and allows you to probe deep into the respondent’s answers while gaining valuable information about the subject at hand.
These questions are subjective which ask a lot of ‘Why’ ‘How’ ‘Where’ ‘When’ etc, that requires an explanation from respondents in their own words which ultimately help you see things from a customer’s perspective instead of stock answers.
Open-ended questions are often used in Qualitative Market Research which is an exploratory form of the research where the researcher gets to ask questions directly from the participants which helps them to probe on user behavior.
Infact Open-ended questions are often asked in Job interviews and during counseling sessions to understand the respondent’s state of mind. The responses are ultimately used to attain detailed and descriptive information on a topic.
Some Examples
Example 1 — How can we make this Product/Service better?
Remember when you last went out for vacation at you favorite hotel and while checking out, the restaurant manager gave you a page to rate their services and asked this question in the end.
This is one of the most common yet important question that is often asked by the users of a product/service. Crisp and to the point, the question leaves the door wide open for the respondents for multidimensional answers that you may not have even thought of.
There is always room for improvement, and by asking for improvements directly from those who have used your product/service would uncover lot of suggestions and improvements that will ultimately lead to a great User Experience.
Example 2 — What goals would you like to accomplish?
Want Customers Fall in Love with Your Business then ask them what are their goals that they want to accomplish while using your Product/service.
See unless a Product/service solves the user problem and helps them accomplish their goal they are unlikely to buy it. Why not hear about the Goals the user wants to accomplish directly from them, in context with the product/service.
When to ask Open-Ended Questions?
What are Closed-Ended Questions?
Close ended questions are those where respondents are presented a set of pre-defined answers and the respondents choose from those set of answers. The limited option can be in the form of ‘yes/no’ or a set of multiple options , or a rating scale (e.g. from strongly agree to strongly disagree).
They are designed so that there isn’t much thought given to the answer. An example of a close ended question is, ‘When were you born?,’ ‘ Are you older than 18 yrs?’. A closed-ended question completely contrasts with an open-ended question, where the respondents have to elaborate their answers.
Typically, closed-ended questions are used to gather numeric data from respondents. Though they give limited insight, however they can easily be analyzed for quantitative data. Having said that, Closed-ended questions should not be taken as simple questions they can also be very complicated.
Additionally, Closed ended questions are the foundation of all statistical and analytical techniques which are applied on questionnaires and surveys.
Types of Closed-Ended Question
To understand more about the close ended questions, let us first know its types.
1.Dichotomous Question
The word ‘Dichotomy’ is defined as division of things or ideas into two contradictory parts. When there is a dichotomy between things/ideas it means there is a sharp contrast or division between them. A dichotomous question is a question that can have two possible answers. For Example Yes/No, True/False, Agree/Disagree .
An example of a dichotomous type question:
Example 1. Have you ever been to India?
- Yes
- No
Example 2. Climate Change can lead to extinction of Human species.
- Agree
- Disagree
These types of question should be asked if there are only two possible answers. Dont use a dichotomous question where people would prefer to stay neutral .
And this is because , though answering in Yes/No may seem simple, however may lead to a respondent deciding on an option that might not truly capture their feelings/beliefs/opinions.
2.Multiple choice question
As the name suggests, Multiple choice questions or MCQ’s provides respondents with multiple answer options. MCQ’s are fundamentally used in Questionnaires and while conducting Survey. Primarily, a respondent can select single or more than one option from the multiple answer options.
Whats good about Multiple choice Questions is that unlike in Dichotomous Questions answered through either YES/No , MCQ’s are less susceptible to guessing making them more reliable means of assessment.
In addition to that multiple choice questions gives the respondents flexibility to choose from a set of answers and also helps the researcher obtain data that is clean and easy to analyse.
Most Common Types of Multiple Choice Questions
1. Single Select Multiple Answer Questions
In Single Select MCQ’s respondents are given predetermined set of responses of at least two or more options, and are asked to pick only one answer. They are easy to respond and very effective in determining primary preference of respondents among a set of choices.
2. Multi select Multiple Choice Questions
Just like Single Select, In Multi select MCQ’s respondents are given predetermined set of responses of at least two or more options. However, the difference is that respondents can choose multiple answers from the set.
3. Likert Scale Multiple Choice Questions
A Likert scale is a common way to get feedback on how strongly people feel about a topic. Infact it is a psychometric scale where weights are assigner to each answer choice and you can measure respondent attitude towards a topic/brand/experience.
Likert Scale assess the level of agreement or disagreement of a symmetric agree-disagree scale.
4. Rank Order Choice Questions
Rank order questions allow respondents to rank multiple items on the basis of features, needs, likes or dislikes, effectiveness, etc in a ranking survey. They are presented in a single-column format and most commonly used when the researcher wants to understand the order of importance of items.
Furthermore, Rank Order Questions help you gain critical data about a participant’s preference of one item as compared to another.
When to Ask Closed-Ended Questions?
5 Differences between Open-Ended vs Closed-Ended Questions?
Now that you understood in detail what are Open-Ended and Closed-Ended questions, lets learn the key differences between them.
1.The kind of Answers you get
Open-ended questions are those that cannot be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and instead require the respondent to elaborate on their perspective. Infact, asking these questions help researchers gain valuable information about the subject at hand.
However, with Close ended questions you get concise information. Respondents are presented a set of pre-defined answers and they have to choose from those set of answers. They are designed so that there isn’t much thought given to the answer.
2.Textual vs Numeric Data
When you ask Open-Ended questions, it requires an explanation from respondents in their own words which ultimately help you see things from a customer’s perspective instead of stock answers. You get information from respondents in Textual form.
However, when you ask Closed-Ended questions you gather numeric data from respondents. They are the foundation of all statistical and analytical techniques which are applied on questionnaires and surveys.
3.Difference in how Questions are asked.
As we discussed that Open-Ended questions are explorative and seeks to explore behavior and understand perceptions of respondents. Tthey usually start with ‘How,’ ‘Why,’ ‘Where,’ etc. When a question starts like this , it motivates the respondent to give a detailed description about the topic. For Example,’ How do you describe this product’?
However, Closed-Ended Questions doesn’t require respondents to elaborate their answers and are usually in numeric form. These questions usually start with ,’ How much,’ ‘How often,’ ‘Rate the following,’ etc. For Example, ‘ How often you go for grocery shopping in a week’ ?
4. Sample Size
Open-Ended Questions require smaller sample sizes which help researchers get abundant yet quality data from the participants. Only a small sample size is selected with a view to get a thorough understanding of the target concept.
However , in Closed-Ended questions you need to study a larger sample size which helps the Researcher reach an accurate generalized conclusion. The results that you get from a Larger sample size has greater credibility because the statistical analysis has more depth to review.
5.Data Analysis
Open-Ended questions results in Textual data which is then interpreted by the researchers who needs to follow different tangents to Sort out information which takes a lot of time to be analyzed and synthesized to make sense.
Data Captured is mostly in Numeric form which can be then easily Analyzed and Interpreted by using Mathematical and Statistical tools. Thus, interpretation of numeric data and presenting those findings is fast , straightforward and less open to error and subjectivity.
To Conclude
Closed-Ended questions are rigid and you have to follow a specific pattern of questioning, data collection, and information reporting. However, they are easy to understand. Hence the respondents don’t need to spend much time on reading the questions and responding to them.
It should be kept in mind that too many answer choices may deter or confuse respondents. For that reason, you should only provide the most important and relevant options.
While Open-Ended Questions are beneficial when you are looking for detailed response from respondents; not every person opens up to reveals their perceptions/preferences about a particular topic. On the contrary Closed-ended questions come in a variety of forms and are categorized with specific options for the respondents, so that they can select them without any hesitation.
Hence, before designing a survey you need to have clarity as to what your objective is and evaluate the positives and negatives of using an open or closed ended questions.
Open-Ended questions are not rigid and you dont have to follow a specific pattern of questioning, data collection, and information reporting. Hence, it lets you to lets you understand and learn the full story behind decisions of people and help make improvements.
It is important to keep in mind that open-ended questions leads to subjective answers which are often difficult to interpret. In fact, categorizing the answers in categories is in itself a big task in statistics which is particularly time consuming.
Hence, before designing a survey you need to have clarity as to what your objective is and evaluate the positives and negatives of using an open or closed ended questions.
Thankyou for Reading.
