Questions that are open-ended provide rich qualitative data. In essence, they
provide the researcher with an opportunity to gain insight on all the opinions
on a topic they are not familiar with. However, being qualitative in nature
makes these types of questions lack the statistical significance needed for
conclusive research. Nevertheless, open-ended questions are incredibly useful
in several different ways:
1)
Expert Interviews
Since questions that are open-ended
ask for the critical thinking and uncut opinion of the respondent, they are
perfect for gaining information from specialists in a field that the researcher
is less qualified in. Example: If I wanted to learn the history of Ancient
China (something I know very little about), I could create my survey for a
selected group of historians whose focus is Ancient China. My survey would then
be filled with broad open-ended questions that are designed to receive large
amounts of content and provide the freedom for the expert to demonstrate their
knowledge.
2)
Small Population Studies
Open-ended questions can be useful for
surveys that are targeting a small group of people because there is no need for
complex statistical analysis and the qualitative nature of the questions will
give you more valuable input from each respondent. The rule here is the group
must be small enough for the surveyor to be able to read each unique response
and reflect on the information provided. Example: A supervisor who is looking
for performance feedback from his/her team of six employees. The supervisor
would benefit more from questions that allow the respondents to freely answer
rather than forcing them into closed-ended questions that will limit their
responses.
3)
Preliminary Research
Open-ended questions can reveal to the
surveyor a variety of opinions and behaviors among the population that they
never realized. It is therefore, incredibly useful to use open-ended questions
to gain information for further quantitative research.
4) A
Respondent Outlet
It is usually a good idea in any
survey, no matter how large, to leave an open-ended comments question at the
end. This is especially in the case of a survey asking the respondent to
express himself freely regarding attitudes, opinions, or behaviors. Forcing
respondents to answer closed-ended questions asks them to fit in your box of
options and can leave them with extra information or concerns that they want to
share with you. Providing respondents with the outlet of a comment box is
showing them the respect they deserve for taking the time to fill out your
survey.
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