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Open-ended vs. closed questions in user research.

January 26, 2024 2024-01-26

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When conducting user research, asking questions helps you uncover insights. However, how you ask questions impacts what and how much you can discover .

In This Article:

Open-ended vs. closed questions, why asking open-ended questions is important, how to ask open-ended questions.

There are two types of questions we can use in research studies: open-ended and closed.

  Open-ended questions allow participants to give a free-form text answer. Closed questions (or closed-ended questions) restrict participants to one of a limited set of possible answers.

Open-ended questions encourage exploration of a topic; a participant can choose what to share and in how much detail. Participants are encouraged to give a reasoned response rather than a one-word answer or a short phrase.

Examples of open-ended questions include:

• Walk me through a typical day.
• Tell me about the last time you used the website.
• What are you thinking?
• How did you feel about using the website to do this task?

Note that the first two open-ended questions are commands but act as questions. These are common questions asked in user interviews to get participants to share stories. Questions 3 and 4 are common questions that a usability-test facilitator may ask during and after a user attempts a task, respectively.

Closed questions have a short and limited response. Examples of closed questions include:

• What’s your job title?
• Have you used the website before?
• Approximately, how many times have you used the website?
• When was the last time you used the website?

Strictly speaking, questions 3 and 4 would only be considered “closed” if they were accompanied by answer options, such as (a) never, (b) once, (c) two times or more. This is because the number of times and days could be infinite. That being said, in UX, we treat questions like these as closed questions.

In the dialog between a facilitator and a user below, closed questions provide a short, clarifying response, while open-ended questions result in the user describing an experience.

Using Closed Questions in Surveys

Closed questions are heavily utilized in surveys because the responses can be analyzed statistically (and surveys are usually a quantitative exercise). When used in surveys, they often take the form of multiple-choice questions or rating-scale items , rather than open-text questions. This way, the respondent has the answer options provided, and researchers can easily quantify how popular certain responses are. That being said, some closed questions could be answered through an open-text field to provide a better experience for the respondent. Consider the following closed questions:

• In which industry do you work?
• What is your gender?

Both questions could be presented as multiple-choice questions in a survey. However, the respondent might find it more comfortable to share their industry and gender in a free-text field if they feel the survey does not provide an option that directly aligns with their situation or if there are too many options to review.

Another reason closed questions are used in surveys is that they are much easier to answer than open-ended ones. A survey with many open-ended questions will usually have a lower completion rate than one with more closed questions.

Using Closed Questions in Interviews and Usability Tests

Closed questions are used occasionally in interviews and usability tests to get clarification and extra details. They are often used when asking followup questions. For example, a facilitator might ask:

• Has this happened to you before?
• When was the last time this happened?
• Was this a different time than the time you mentioned previously?

Closed questions help facilitators gather important details. However, they should be used sparingly in qualitative research as they can limit what you can learn.

The greatest benefit of open-ended questions is that they allow you to find more than you anticipate. You don’t know what you don’t know.   People may share motivations you didn’t expect and mention behaviors and concerns you knew nothing about. When you ask people to explain things, they often reveal surprising mental models , problem-solving strategies, hopes, and fears.

On the other hand, closed questions stop the conversation. If an interviewer or usability-test facilitator were to ask only closed questions, the conversation would be stilted and surface-level. The facilitator might not learn important things they didn’t think to ask because closed questions eliminate surprises: what you expect is what you get.

Closed Questions Can Sometimes Be Leading

When you ask closed questions, you may accidentally reveal what you’re interested in and prime participants to volunteer only specific information. This is why researchers use the funnel technique , where the session or followup questions begin with broad, open-ended questions before introducing specific, closed questions.

Not all closed questions are leading. That being said, it’s easy for a closed question to become leading if it suggests an answer.

The table below shows examples of leading closed questions . Reworking a question so it’s not leading often involves making it open-ended, as shown in column 2 of the table below.

One way to spot a leading, closed question is to look at how the question begins. Leading closed questions often start with the words “did,” “was,” or “is.” Open-ended questions often begin with “how” or “what.”

New interviewers and usability-test facilitators often struggle to ask enough open-ended questions. A new interviewer might be tempted to ask many factual, closed questions in quick succession, such as the following:

• Do you have children?
• Do you work?
• How old are you?
• Do you ever [insert behavior]?

However, these questions could be answered in response to a broad, open-ended question like Tell me a bit about yourself .

When constructing an interview guide for a user interview, try to think of a broad, open-ended version of a closed question that might get the participant talking about the question you want answered, like in the example above.

When asking questions in a usability test, try to favor questions that begin with “how,” or “what,” over “do,” or “did” like in the table below.

Another tip to help you ask open-ended questions is to use one of the following question stems :

• Walk me through [how/what]...
• Tell me a bit about…
• Tell me about a time where…

Finally, you can ask open-ended questions when probing. Probing questions are open-ended and are used in response to what a participant shares. They are designed to solicit more information. You can use the following probing questions in interviews and usability tests.

• Tell me more about that.
• What do you mean by that?
• Can you expand on that?
• What do you think about that?
• Why do you think that?

Ask open-ended questions in conversations with users to discover unanticipated answers and important insights. Use closed questions to gather additional small details, gain clarification, or when you want to analyze responses quantitatively.

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Open-Ended Questions in Qualitative Research: Strategies, Examples, and Best Practices

Table of content, understanding open-ended questions, designing open-ended questions, types of open-ended questions, conducting interviews and focus groups with open-ended questions, analyzing and interpreting open-ended responses, challenges and limitations of using open-ended questions, best practices for using open-ended questions in qualitative research, definition of open-ended questions.

Open-ended questions are a research tool that allows for a wide range of possible answers and encourages respondents to provide detailed and personalized responses. These types of questions typically begin with phrases such as “ How ,” “ What ,” or “ Why “, and require the respondent to provide their thoughts and opinions.

Open-ended questions are crucial in the following scenarios:

Understanding complex phenomena : When a topic is complex, multi-faceted, or difficult to measure with numerical data, qualitative research can provide a more nuanced and detailed understanding.

Studying subjective experiences: When the focus is on people’s perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, or experiences, qualitative research is better suited to capture the richness and diversity of their perspectives.

Developing theories: When a researcher wants to develop a model or theory to explain a phenomenon, qualitative research can provide a rich source of data to support the development of such hypotheses.

Evaluating programs or interventions: Qualitative research can help to evaluate the effectiveness of programs or interventions by collecting feedback from participants, stakeholders, or experts.

Researchers use open-ended methods in research, interviews, counseling, and other situations that may require detailed and in-depth responses.

Benefits of Using Open-Ended Questions in Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is most appropriate when the research question is exploratory, complex, subjective, theoretical, or evaluative. These questions are valuable in qualitative research for the following reasons:

More In-depth Responses

Open-ended questions allow participants to share their experiences and opinions in their own words, often leading to more in-depth and detailed responses.  For example, if a researcher is studying cancer survivors’ experiences, an open-ended question like, “Can you tell me about your experience with cancer?” may elicit a more detailed and nuanced response than a closed-ended question like “Did you find your cancer diagnosis to be difficult?”

Flexibility

Open-ended questions give the participant flexibility to respond to the questions in a way that makes sense to them, often revealing vital information that the researcher may have overlooked.

Better Understanding

Open-ended questions provide the researcher with a better understanding of the participant’s perspectives, beliefs, attitudes, and experiences, which is crucial in gaining insights into complex issues.

Uncovering New Insights

Open-ended questions can often lead to unexpected responses and reveal new information. When participants freely express themselves in their own words, they may bring up topics or perspectives that the researcher had not considered.

Building Rapport

Open-ended questions help build rapport with the participant, allowing the researcher to show interest in the participant’s responses and provide a space for them to share their experiences without feeling judged. This can lead to a positive research experience for participants, which may increase the likelihood of their continued participation in future studies.

Validating or Challenging Existing Theories

By allowing participants to provide their own perspectives and experiences, researchers can compare and contrast these responses with existing theories to see if they align or diverge. If the data from participants align with existing hypotheses, this can provide additional support for this data. On the other hand, if the information diverges from existing theories, this can indicate a need for further investigation or revision of the existing data.

Avoiding Bias and Preconceived Notions

Researchers may unintentionally guide participants towards a particular answer or perspective when using close-ended questions. This can introduce bias into the data and limit the range of responses that participants provide. By using open-ended questions, researchers can avoid this potential source of bias and allow participants to express their unique perspectives.

Differences Between Open-Ended and Closed-Ended Questions

Open-ended questions encourage numerous responses and allow respondents to provide their thoughts and opinions. “ What ,” “ How, ” or “ Why ” are some of the words used to phrase open-ended questions and are designed to elicit more detailed and expansive answers. Researchers use open-ended questions in ethnography, interviews , and focus groups to gather comprehensive information and participants’ insights.

Some examples of open-ended questions include:

• What do you think about the current state of the economy?
• How do you feel about global warming?
• Why did you choose to pursue a career in law?

On the other hand, closed-ended questions only allow for a limited set of responses and are typically answered with a “Yes” or “No” or a specific option from a list of multiple choices. These questions are handy in surveys, customer service interactions and questionnaires to collect quantitative data that can be easily analyzed and quantified. They are significant when you want to gather specific information hastily or when you need to confirm or deny a particular fact.

Some examples of closed-ended questions include:

• What was your shopping experience with our company like?
• Have you ever traveled to Europe before?
• Which of these brands do you prefer: Nike, Adidas, or Puma?

Both open-ended and closed-ended questions have their place in research and communication. Open-ended questions can provide rich and detailed information, while closed-ended questions can provide specific and measurable data. The appropriate question type typically depends on the research or communication goals, context and the information required.

Designing open-ended questions requires careful consideration and planning. Open-ended questions elicit more than just a simple “yes” or “no” response and instead allow for a broad range of answers that provide insight into the respondent’s thoughts, feelings, or experiences. When designing open-ended questions in qualitative research, it is critical to consider the best practices below:

Before designing your questions, you must predetermine what you want to learn from your respondents. This, in turn, will help you craft clear and concise questions that are relevant to your research goals. Use simple language and avoid technical terms or jargon that might confuse respondents.

Avoid leading or biased language that could influence and limit the respondents’ answers. Instead, use neutral wording that allows participants to share their authentic thoughts and opinions. For example, instead of asking, “Did you enjoy the food you ate?” ask, “What was your experience at the restaurant?”

One of the advantages of open-ended questions is that they allow respondents to provide detailed and personalized responses. Encourage participants to elaborate on their answers by asking follow-up questions or probing for additional information.

One can deliver open-ended questions in various formats, including interviews, surveys, and focus groups. Consider which one is most appropriate for your research goals and target audience. Additionally, before using your questions in a survey or interview, test them with a small group of people to make sure they are clear and functional.

Open-ended questions give a participant the freedom to answer without restriction. Furthermore, these questions evoke detailed responses from participants, unlike close-ended questions that tend to lead to one-word answers.

Open-Ended Questions Categories

When a researcher wants to explore a topic or phenomenon that is not well understood, qualitative research can help generate hypotheses and insights. For instance, “Can you tell me more about your thoughts on animal poaching in Africa?” or “What is your opinion on the future of social media in business?”

Researchers use these questions to prompt respondents to think more deeply about a particular topic or experience, sometimes using anecdotes related to a specific topic. For example, “What did you learn from that experience?” or “How do you think you could have handled that situation differently?

Researchers use probing questions to gain deeper insight into a participant’s response. These questions aim to understand the reasoning and emotion behind a particular answer. For example, “What did you learn from that mistake?” or “How do you think you could have handled that situation differently?

These questions get more information or clarify a point. For example, “Can you explain that further?” or “Can you give me an example?”

These questions ask the respondents to imagine a hypothetical scenario and provide their thoughts or reactions. Examples of hypothetical questions include “What would you do if you won the lottery?” or “How do you think society would be different if everyone had access to free healthcare?”

These questions ask the respondent to describe something in detail, such as a person, place, or event. Examples of descriptive questions include “Can you tell me about your favorite vacation?” or “How would you describe your ideal job?”

When preparing for an interview , it is important to understand the types of interviews available, what topics will be covered, and how to ask open-ended questions.

Questions should be asked in terms of past, present, and future experiences and should be worded in such a way as to invite a more detailed response from the participant. It is also important to establish a clear sequence of questions so that all topics are addressed without interrupting the flow of conversation.

Planning and Preparing For Interviews and Focus Groups

Before starting an interview or focus group, creating a list of topics or areas you want to explore during your research is essential. Consider what questions will help you gain the most insight into the topic.

Once you’ve identified the topics, you can create more specific questions that will be used to guide the conversation. It can be helpful to categorize your questions into themes to ensure all topics are addressed during the interview.

As you write your questions, aim to keep them as open-ended as possible so that the participant has space to provide detailed feedback. Avoid leading questions and try to avoid yes or no answers. Also, allow participants to provide any additional thoughts they may have on the topic.

Let’s say you’re researching customer experience with an online store. Your broad topic categories might be customer service, product selection, ease of use, and shipping. Your questions could cover things like:

• How satisfied are you with the customer service?
• What do you think about the product selection?
• Is it easy to find the products you’re looking for?

 Best Practices

During the conversation, only one person can talk at a time, and everyone should be able to contribute. To ensure participants understand the questions being asked, try asking them in multiple ways.

It is also important to pause briefly and review the question that has just been discussed before moving on. In addition, brief pauses and silences before and after asking a new question may help facilitate the discussion. If participants begin talking about something that may be an answer to a different question during the discussion, then feel free to allow the conversation to go in that direction.

With these strategies, examples, and best practices in mind, you can ensure that your interviews and focus groups are successful.

Tips For Asking Open-Ended Questions During Interviews and Focus Groups

Asking open-ended questions during interviews and focus groups is critical to qualitative research. Open-ended questions allow you to explore topics in-depth, uncover deeper insights, and gain valuable participant feedback.

However, crafting your questions with intention and purpose is important to ensure that you get the most out of your research.

Start With General Questions

When crafting open-ended questions for interviews or focus groups, it’s important to start with general questions and move towards more specific ones. This strategy helps you uncover various perspectives and ideas before getting into the details.

Using neutral language helps to avoid bias and encourages honest answers from participants. It’s important to determine the goal of the focus group or interview before asking any questions. These findings will help guide your conversation and keep it on track.

Use of Engagement Questions

To get the conversation started during interviews or focus groups, engagement questions are a great way to break the ice. These types of questions can be about anything from personal experiences to interests.

For example: “How did you get here, and what was one unusual thing you saw on your way in?”, “What do you like to do to unwind in your free time?” or “When did you last purchase a product from this line?”.

Use of Exploratory Questions

Exploratory questions about features are also useful in this type of research. Questions such as: “What features would you talk about when recommending this product to a friend?”, “If you could change one thing about this product, what would you change?”, or “Do you prefer this product or that product, and why?” all help to uncover participants’ opinions and preferences.

Exploratory questions about experiences are also helpful; questions such as: “Tell me about a time you experienced a mishap when using this product?” help to identify potential problems that need to be addressed.

Researchers can gain valuable insights from participants by using these tips for asking open-ended questions during interviews and focus groups.

Strategies For Active Listening and Follow-Up Questioning

Active listening is an important skill to possess when conducting qualitative research. It’s essential to ensure you understand and respond to the person you are interviewing effectively. Here are some strategies for active listening and follow-up questioning:

Pay Attention to Non-Verbal Cues

It is important to pay attention to non-verbal cues such as body language and voice when listening. Pay attention to their facial expressions and tone of voice to better understand what they are saying. Make sure not to interrupt the other person, as this can make them feel like their opinions aren’t being heard.

Listen Without Judging or Jumping to Conclusions

It is important to listen without judgment or jumping to conclusions. Don’t plan what to say next while listening, as this will stop you from understanding what the other person is saying.

Use Non-Verbal Signals to Show That You’re Listening

Nodding, smiling, and making small noises like “yes” and “uh huh” can show that you are listening. These signals can help the person feel more comfortable and open up more.

Don’t Impose Your Opinions or Solutions

When interviewing someone, it is important not to impose your opinions or solutions. It is more important to understand the other person and try to find common ground than it is to be right.

Stay Focused While Listening

Finally, it is critical to stay focused while listening. Don’t let yourself get distracted by your own thoughts or daydreaming. Remain attentive and listen with an open mind.

These are all key elements in effectively gathering data and insights through qualitative research.

Qualitative research depends on understanding the context and content of the responses to open-ended questions. Analyzing and interpreting these responses can be challenging for researchers, so it’s important to have a plan and strategies for getting the most value out of open-ended responses.

Strategies For Coding and Categorizing Responses

Coding qualitative data categorizes and organizes responses to open-ended questions in a research study. It is an essential part of the qualitative data analysis process and helps identify the responses’ patterns, themes, and trends.

Thematic Analysis and Qualitative Data Analysis Software

These are two methods for automated coding of customer feedback. Thematic analysis is the process of identifying patterns within qualitative data. This process can be done by manually sorting through customer feedback or using a software program to do the work for you.

Qualitative data analysis software also facilitates coding by providing powerful visualizations that allow users to identify trends and correlations between different customer responses.

Manual Coding

Manual coding is another method of coding qualitative data, where coders sort through responses and manually assign labels based on common themes. Coding the qualitative data, it makes it easier to interpret customer feedback and draw meaningful conclusions from it.

Coding customer feedback helps researchers make data-driven decisions based on customer satisfaction. It helps quantify the common themes in customer language, making it easier to interpret and analyze customer feedback accurately.

Strategies for manual coding include using predetermined codes for common words or phrases and assigning labels to customers’ responses according to certain categories. Examples of best practices for coding include using multiple coders to review responses for accuracy and consistency and creating a library of codes for ease of use.

Identifying Themes and Patterns in Responses

These processes involve reviewing the responses and searching for commonalities regarding words, phrases, topics, or ideas. Doing so can help researchers to gain a better understanding of the material they are analyzing.

There are several strategies that researchers can use when it comes to identifying themes and patterns in open-ended responses.

Manual Scan

One strategy is manually scanning the data and looking for words or phrases that appear multiple times.

Automatic Scan

Another approach is to use qualitative analysis software that can provide coding, categorization, and data analysis.

For example, if a survey asked people about their experience with a product, a researcher could look for common phrases such as “it was easy to use” or “I didn’t like it.” The researcher could then look for patterns regarding how frequently these phrases were used.

Concept Indicator Model

This model is an important part of the coding process in classic grounded theory. It involves a continuous process of exploring and understanding open-ended responses, which can often lead to the development of new conceptual ideas.

Coding Process

The coding process is broken down into two parts: substantive coding and theoretical coding. Substantive coding involves organizing data into meaningful categories, while theoretical coding looks at how those categories relate.

Forms of Coding

Within the concept indicator model are two forms of coding: open coding and selective coding. Open coding is used to explore responses without predetermined theories or preconceived ideas. It is an iterative process involving connecting categories and generating tentative conclusions.

On the other hand, selective coding uses predetermined theories or ideas to guide data analysis.

The concept indicator model also uses a cycling approach known as constant comparison and theoretical sampling. Constant comparison is the process of constantly comparing new data with previous data until saturation is reached.

Theoretical sampling involves examining different data types to determine which ones will be more useful for exploring the concepts and relationships under investigation.

Gaining experience and confidence in exploring and confirming conceptual ideas is essential for success in the concept indicator model.

Strategies such as brainstorming and creating examples can help analysts better understand the various concepts that emerge from the data.

Best practices such as involving multiple coders in the process, triangulating data from different sources, and including contextual information can also help increase the accuracy and reliability of coding results.

Interpreting and Analyzing Open-Ended Responses in Relation to Your Research Questions

• Ensure Objectives are Met: For any study or project, you must ensure your objectives are met. To achieve this, the responses to open-ended questions must be categorized according to their subject, purpose, and theme. This step will help in recognizing patterns and drawing out commonalities.
• Choose A Coding Method: Once you have identified the themes, you must choose a coding method to interpret and analyze the data.

There are various coding strategies that can be employed. For example, a directed coding strategy will help you focus on the themes you have identified in your research objectives. In contrast, an axial coding method can be used to connect related concepts together. With a coding method, it will be easier to make sense of the responses.

Use Narrative Analysis

This process involves looking for story elements such as plot, characters, setting, and conflict in the text. It can be useful for identifying shared experiences or values within a group.

By looking for these narrative elements, you can better understand how individuals perceive their own experiences and those of others.

Analyze the Findings

However, to understand the meanings that the responses may have, it is also important to analyze them. This stage is where techniques such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, and textual analysis come in.

These methods provide valuable insights into how the responses are related to each other and can help uncover potential connections and underlying motivations.

Summarize Your Findings

Once you have interpreted and analyzed the data, it is time to decide on your key findings. For example, you can summarize your findings according to different themes, discuss any implications of your research or suggest ways in which further research can be carried out.

These strategies provide valuable insights into the qualitative data collected from open-ended questions. However, to ensure that the data’s most effective outcomes are obtained, you need to familiarize yourself with the best practices in qualitative research.

Open-ended questions have the potential to generate rich and nuanced data in qualitative research. However, they also present certain challenges and limitations that researchers and educators need to be aware of.

We will now explore some of the challenges associated with using open-ended questions, including potential biases and subjectivity in responses, social desirability bias, and response bias.

We will also discuss strategies to address these challenges, such as balancing open-ended and closed-ended questions in research design. By understanding these limitations and employing best practices, researchers and educators can use open-ended questions to gather meaningful data and insights.

Addressing potential biases and subjectivity in responses

When we use open-ended questions in qualitative research, it’s crucial to be mindful of potential biases and subjectivity in responses. It’s natural for participants to bring their own experiences and beliefs to the table, which can impact their answers and skew the data. To tackle these challenges, we can take several steps to ensure that our research findings are as accurate and representative as possible.

One way to minimize subjectivity is to use neutral and unbiased language when framing our questions. By doing so, we can avoid leading or loaded questions that could influence participants’ responses. We can also use multiple methods to verify data and check responses, like conducting follow-up interviews or comparing responses with existing literature.

Another important consideration is to be open and transparent about the research process and participants’ rights. Addressing these biases also includes providing informed consent and guaranteeing confidentiality so that participants feel comfortable sharing their genuine thoughts and feelings. By recruiting diverse participants and ensuring that our data is representative and inclusive, we can also reduce potential biases and increase the validity of our findings.

By tackling biases and subjectivity in responses head-on, we can gather reliable and insightful data that can inform future research and enhance teaching methods.

Dealing with social desirability bias and response bias

In qualitative research, social desirability bias and response bias can pose significant challenges when analyzing data. Social desirability bias occurs when participants tend to respond in ways that align with social norms or expectations, rather than expressing their true feelings or beliefs. Response bias, on the other hand, happens when participants provide incomplete or inaccurate information due to factors like memory lapse or misunderstanding of the question.

To address these biases, researchers can use various strategies to encourage participants to be more candid and honest in their responses.

For instance, researchers can create a safe and supportive environment that fosters trust and openness, allowing participants to feel comfortable sharing their true thoughts and experiences. Researchers can also use probing techniques to encourage participants to elaborate on their answers, helping to uncover underlying beliefs and attitudes.

It’s also a good idea to mix up the types of questions you ask, utilizing both open-ended and closed-ended inquiries to get a variety of responses. Closed-ended questions can aid in the verification or confirmation of participants’ comments, but open-ended questions allow for a more in-depth investigation of themes and encourage participants to submit extensive and personal responses.

Balancing open-ended and closed-ended questions in your research design

An appropriate combination of open-ended and closed-ended questions is essential for developing an effective research design. Open-ended questions allow participants to provide detailed, nuanced responses and offer researchers the opportunity to uncover unexpected insights.

However, too many open-ended questions can make analysis challenging and time-consuming. Closed-ended questions, on the other hand, can provide concise and straightforward data that’s easy to analyze but may not capture the complexity of participants’ experiences.

Balancing the use of open-ended and closed-ended questions necessitates a careful evaluation of the study objectives, target audience, and issue under examination. Researchers must also consider the available time and resources for analysis.

When designing a research study, it’s essential to prioritize the research goals and choose questions that align with those goals. Careful selection of questions guarantees that the data gathered is pertinent and adds to a greater knowledge of the topic under consideration. Researchers should also consider the participants’ backgrounds and experiences and select questions that are appropriate and sensitive to their needs. Furthermore, adopting a mix of open-ended and closed-ended questions can assist researchers in triangulating data, which allows them to cross-validate their findings by comparing results from multiple sources or techniques.

Lastly, we will be exploring the best practices for utilizing open-ended questions in qualitative research. We cover a range of helpful tips and strategies for creating a research design that fosters rich and nuanced data while maintaining the integrity of your research.

Building an effective connection with your research participants, developing carefully developed research questions that align with your research objectives, remaining flexible and adaptable in your approach, and prioritizing ethical considerations throughout your research process are some of the key best practices we explore.

Building Rapport with Participants

Building rapport with research participants is an essential component of conducting effective qualitative research. Building rapport is all about creating trust and providing a comfortable environment where participants can feel free to share their thoughts and experiences.

The first thing a researcher should do is to introduce themselves and make the participant understand why the research is significant.  Additionally, active listening is critical in building rapport. Listening attentively to your participants’ responses and asking follow-up questions can demonstrate your interest in their experiences and perspective.

Maintaining a nonjudgmental, impartial position is also essential in developing rapport. Participants must feel free to express their opinions and experiences without fear of being judged or prejudiced.

Using respectful language, maintaining eye contact, and nodding along to participants’ responses can show that you are invested in their stories and care about their experiences.

Overall, establishing rapport with participants is an ongoing process that requires attention, care, and empathy.

Developing clear research questions

In research, developing clear research questions is an essential component of qualitative research using open-ended questions. The research questions provide a clear direction for the research process, enabling researchers to gather relevant and insightful data.

To create effective research questions, they must be specific, concise, and aligned with the overall research objectives. It is crucial to avoid overly broad or narrow questions that could impact the validity of the research.

Additionally, researchers should use language that is easy to understand. Researchers should avoid any technical jargon that may lead to confusion.

The order of the questions is also significant; they should flow logically, building on each other and ensuring they make sense. By developing clear research questions, researchers can collect and analyze data in a more effective and meaningful manner.                      

Maintaining a flexible and adaptable approach

When conducting qualitative research, maintaining a flexible and adaptable approach is crucial. Flexibility enables researchers to adjust their research methods and questions to ensure they capture rich and nuanced data that can answer their research questions.

However, staying adaptable can be a daunting task, as researchers may need to modify their research approach based on participants’ responses or unforeseen circumstances.

To maintain flexibility, researchers must have a clear understanding of their research questions and goals, while also remaining open to modifying their methods if necessary. It is also essential to keep detailed notes and regularly reflect on research progress to determine if adjustments are needed.

Staying adaptable is equally important as it requires researchers to be responsive to changes in participants’ attitudes and perspectives. Being able to pivot research direction and approach based on participant feedback is critical to achieving accurate and meaningful results.

Maintaining a flexible and adaptive strategy allows researchers to collect the most extensive and accurate data possible, resulting in a more in-depth understanding of the research topic. While it can be challenging to remain flexible and adaptable, doing so will ultimately lead to more robust research findings and greater insights into the topic at hand.

Being aware of ethical considerations

When conducting research, It is critical to remember the ethical aspects that control how individuals interact with one another in society and how these factors affect research. Ethical considerations refer to the principles or standards that should guide research to ensure it is conducted in an honest, transparent, and respectful manner.

Before beginning the study, researchers must obtain informed consent from participants. Obtaining consent means providing clear and comprehensive information about the research, its purpose, what participation entails, and the potential risks and benefits. Researchers must ensure that participants understand the information and voluntarily consent to participate.

Protecting the privacy and confidentiality of participants must be essential for researchers. They should look into safeguarding personal information, using pseudonyms or codes to protect identities, and securing any identifying information collected.

Researchers must avoid asking questions that are too personal, sensitive, or potentially harmful. If harm or distress occurs, researchers should provide participants with appropriate support and referral to relevant services.

Using open-ended questions in qualitative research presents both challenges and benefits. To address potential limitations, researchers should remain objective and neutral, create a safe and non-judgmental space, and use probing techniques. Best practices include building rapport, developing clear research questions, and being flexible. Open-ended questions offer the benefits of revealing rich and nuanced data, allowing for flexibility, and building rapport with participants. Ethical considerations must also be a top priority.

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Literature Reviews

• Getting Started
• Choosing a Type of Review

Developing a Research Question

Finding example literature reviews.

• Searching the Literature
• Searching Tips
• ChatGPT [beta]
• Documenting your Search
• Using Citation Managers
• Concept Mapping
• Writing the Review
• Further Resources

Goldilocker Tool

UM Librarians have developed a quick tool called Goldilocker  to help beginners who are struggling to refine their Research Question. 

DEVELOPING A RESEARCH QUESTION

Before searching for sources, you need to formulate a Research Question — this is what you are trying to answer using the existing academic literature. The Research Question pinpoints the focus of the review .

Your first step involves choosing, exploring, and focusing a topic. At this stage you might discover that you need to tweak your topic or the scope of your research as you learn more about the topic in the literature.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: 

• The question must be "researchable" — it can be answered with accessible facts and data
• Questions often start with How, Why, What, Which
• The question opens the door for other areas of inquiry — it identifies a gap in existing research
• Questions should be open-ended and focus on cause and effect

TRY TO AVOID: 

• Simple yes/no questions, or questions with an easy answer (what is the radius of the moon?)
• Questions that can only be answered by an opinion (does it smell nice when it rains?)
• Questions that involve secret information (what is the recipe for Coca-Cola?)
• Questions that are too broad or too narrow

REFINING YOUR RESEARCH QUESTION

Two examples of refining research questions that could be considered either too broad or too narrow.

USING DATABASE FILTER TOOLS

It can be helpful to read existing literature reviews on your topic to get an idea of major themes, how authors structure their arguments, or what reviews look like in your discipline.

DOCUMENT TYPE FILTERS

Many library databases have the option to highlight just Review Articles after you perform a search. Filters above show what the Document Type filter looks like, with a "Review" option. These examples are from Scopus and ProQuest. The "Review" filter here refers to free-standing, comprehensive Review Articles on a topic, as opposed to a shorter literature review inside a scholarly article.

LIT REVIEWS INSIDE ARTICLES

It is also worth taking a look at the shorter literature reviews inside scholarly articles. These can sometimes be called "Background" or "Background Literature." Look for a section typically following the Introduction that covers the history or gives context on the paper's topic.

EXAMPLE REVIEW ARTICLES

Here are a few examples of Review Articles in different disciplines. Note sometimes an article can be a Review Article without the word "review" in the title.

HUMANITIES — Art — " Art and Crime: Conceptualising Graffiti in the City " from the journal Geography Compass

SCIENCES — Climate Change — " Mercury Isotopes in Earth and Environmental Sciences " from the journal  Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences

SOCIAL SCIENCES — Psychology — " Structural Competency and the Future of Firearm Research " from the journal Social Science & Medicine

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• Last Updated: May 9, 2024 11:44 AM
• URL: https://guides.lib.umich.edu/litreview

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Qualitative research: open-ended and closed-ended questions

Our guide to market research can be downloaded free of charge

From a very young age, we have been taught what open-ended , and closed-ended questions are. How are these terms applied to qualitative research methods , and in particular to interviews?

Kathryn J. Roulston reveals her definitions of an open-ended and closed-ended question in qualitative interviews in the SAGE Encyclopedia on Qualitative Research Methods . If you want to better understand how qualitative methods fit within a market research approach, we suggest you take a look at our step-by-step guide to market research which can be downloaded in our white papers section (free of charge and direct; we won’t ask you any contact details first).

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Introduction

• Closed-ended question
• Open-ended question

Examples of closed and open-ended questions for satisfaction research

Examples of closed and open-ended questions for innovation research, some practical advice.

Let us begin by pointing out that open and closed-ended questions do not at first glance serve the same purpose in market research. Instead, open-ended questions are used in qualitative research (see the video above for more information) and closed-ended questions are used in quantitative research. But this is not an absolute rule.

In this article, you will, therefore, discover the definitions of closed and open-ended questions. We will also explain how to use them. Finally, you will find examples of how to reformulate closed-ended questions into open-ended questions in the case of :

• satisfaction research
• innovation research

Essential elements to remember

Open-ended questions:

• for qualitative research (interviews and focus groups)
• very useful in understanding in detail the respondent and his or her position concerning a defined topic/situation
• particularly helpful in revealing new aspects , sub-themes, issues, and so forth that are unknown or unidentified

Closed-ended questions:

• for quantitative research (questionnaires and surveys)
• suitable for use with a wide range of respondents
• allow a standardised analysis of the data
• are intended to confirm the hypotheses (previously stated in the qualitative part)

A closed-ended question

A closed-ended question offers, as its name suggests, a limited number of answers. For example, the interviewee may choose a response from a panel of given proposals or a simple “yes” or “no”. They are intended to provide a precise, clearly identifiable and easily classified answer.

This type of question is used in particular during interviews whose purpose is to be encoded according to pre-established criteria. There is no room for free expression, as is the case for open-ended questions. Often, this type of question is integrated into 1-to-1 interview guides and focus groups and allows the interviewer to collect the same information from a wide range of respondents in the same format. Indeed, closed-ended questions are designed and oriented to follow a pattern and framework predefined by the interviewer.

Two forms of closed-ended questions were identified by the researchers: specific closed-ended questions , where respondents are offered choice answers, and implicit closed-ended questions , which include assumptions about the answers that can be provided by respondents.

A specific closed-ended question would be formulated as follows, for example: “how many times a week do you eat pasta: never, once or twice a week, 3 to 4 times, 5 times a week or more?” The adapted version in the form of an implicit closed-ended question would be formulated as follows: “how many times a week do you eat pasta? ». The interviewer then assumes that the answers will be given in figures.

The Net Promoter Score (or NPS) is an example of closed question (see example above)

While some researchers consider the use of closed-ended questions to be restrictive, others see in these questions – combined with open-ended questions – the possibility of generating different data for analysis. How these closed-ended questions can be used, formulated, sequenced, and introduced in interviews depends heavily upon the studies and research conducted upstream.

Read also Creating a questionnaire for quantitative market research

In what context are closed-ended questions used?

• Quantitative research (tests, confirmation of the qualitative research and so on).
• Research with a large panel of respondents (> 100 people)
• Recurrent research whose results need to be compared
• When you need confirmation, and the possible answers are limited in effect

An open-ended question

An open-ended question is a question that allows the respondent to express himself or herself freely on a given subject. This type of question is, as opposed to closed-ended questions, non-directive and allows respondents to use their own terms and direct their response at their convenience.

Open-ended questions, and therefore without presumptions, can be used to see which aspect stands out from the answers and thus could be interpreted as a fact, behaviour, reaction, etc. typical to a defined panel of respondents.

For example, we can very easily imagine open-ended questions such as “describe your morning routine”. Respondents are then free to describe their routine in their own words, which is an important point to consider. Indeed, the vocabulary used is also conducive to analysis and will be an element to be taken into account when adapting an interview guide, for example, and/or when developing a quantitative questionnaire.

As we detail in our market research whitepaper , one of the recommendations to follow when using open-ended questions is to start by asking more general questions and end with more detailed questions. For example, after describing a typical day, the interviewer may ask for clarification on one of the aspects mentioned by the respondent. Also, open-ended questions can also be directed so that the interviewee evokes his or her feelings about a situation he or she may have mentioned earlier.

In what context are open-ended questions used?

• Mainly in qualitative research (interviews and focus groups)
• To recruit research participants
• During research to test a design, a proof-of-concept, a prototype, and so on, it is essential to be able to identify the most appropriate solution.
• Analysis of consumers and purchasing behaviour
• Satisfaction research , reputation, customer experience and loyalty research, and so forth.
• To specify the hypotheses that will enable the quantitative questionnaire to be drawn up and to propose a series of relevant answers (to closed-ended questions ).

It is essential for the interviewer to give respondents a framework when using open-ended questions. Without this context, interviewees could be lost in the full range of possible responses, and this could interfere with the smooth running of the interview. Another critical point concerning this type of question is the analytical aspect that follows. Indeed, since respondents are free to formulate their answers, the data collected will be less easy to classify according to fixed criteria.

The use of open-ended questions in quantitative questionnaires

Rules are made to be broken; it is well known. Most quantitative questionnaires, therefore, contain free fields in which the respondent is invited to express his or her opinions in a more “free” way. But how to interpret these answers?

When the quantity of answers collected is small (about ten) it will be easy to proceed manually, possibly by coding (for more information on the coding technique, go here ). You will thus quickly identify the main trends and recurring themes.

On the other hand, if you collect hundreds or even thousands of answers, the analysis of these free answers will be much more tedious. How can you do it? In this case, we advise you to use a semantic analysis tool. This is most often an online solution, specific to a language, which is based on an NLP (Natural Language Processing) algorithm. This algorithm will, very quickly, analyse your corpus and bring out the recurring themes . It is not a question here of calculating word frequencies, but instead of working on semantics to analyse the repetition of a subject.

Of course, the use of open-ended questions in interviews does not exclude the use of closed-ended questions. Alternating these two types of questions in interviews, whether 1-to-1 interviews, group conversations or focus groups, is conducive not only to maintaining a specific dynamic during the interview but also to be able to frame specific responses while leaving certain fields of expression free. In general, it is interesting for the different parties that the interview ends with an open-ended question where the interviewer asks the interviewee if he or she has anything to add or if he or she has any questions.

In this type of research, you confront the respondent with a new, innovative product or service. It is therefore important not to collect superficial opinions but to understand in depth the respondent’s attitude towards the subject of the market research.

As you will have understood, open-ended questions are particularly suitable for qualitative research (1-to-1 interviews and focus groups). How should they be formulated?

The Five W’s; (who did what, where, when, and why ) questioning method should be used rigorously and sparingly :

• Who? Who? What? Where? When? How? How much? “are particularly useful for qualitative research and allow you to let your interlocutor develop and elaborate a constructed and informative answer.
• Use the CIT (Critical Incident Technique) method with formulations that encourage your interviewer to go into the details of an experience: “Can you describe/tell me…? “, ” What did you feel? “, ” According to you… “
• Avoid asking “Why?”: this question may push the interviewer into a corner, and the interviewer may seek logical reasoning for his or her previous answer. Be gentle with your respondents by asking them to tell you more, to give you specific examples, for example.

In contrast, closed-ended questions are mainly used and adapted to quantitative questionnaires since they facilitate the analysis of the results by framing the participants’ answers.

Image: Shutterstock

• Market research methods

19 July 2021

Very useful sir….

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Open-Ended Questions – A Complete Guide

Open-ended questions are invaluable for gathering meaningful insights. Unlike closed-ended questions that limit responses, open-ended questions allow people to answer in their own words. 

This gives them the freedom to provide more detailed and thoughtful responses, reveal attitudes and emotions, and share unexpected perspectives. 

In this comprehensive guide, you will learn what open-ended questions are, why they are so effective for research, how to phrase open-ended questions, where to use open-ended questions, tips for success with open-ended questions, etc

Whether you are conducting formal research or having an informal discussion, open-ended questions can help you explore topics more deeply, foster engaging dialogue, and develop nuanced understandings of people’s experiences and beliefs. 

Let’s get started.

Table of Contents

What are open-ended questions.

Open-ended questions are questions that require more than a simple yes/no or one-word response. 

They are designed to encourage the respondent to provide an explanatory, descriptive answer using their own words. Unlike closed-ended questions that limit the response options, open-ended questions give people the flexibility to respond however they want.

Some examples of open-ended questions are:

• How did you feel when you experienced that?
• What factors influenced your decision to purchase this product?
• Could you describe your typical day?

These types of questions cannot be answered with a pre-determined set of responses. They push respondents to think deeper and share more details, opinions, and examples in their unique voice.

In contrast, closed-ended questions limit the answer to a binary yes/no, a numerical rating, or a choice among several fixed options. For example:

• Did you enjoy this product? (Yes/No)
• On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate this experience?
• What is your age range? (18-24, 25-34, 35-44 etc.)

While closed-ended questions can be useful in some cases, they do not gather the type of rich, descriptive data that open-ended questions produce. 

Open-ended questions give respondents the freedom to fully express themselves and take the conversation in new, unexpected directions.

Benefits of open-ended questions

1. allow for detailed, expansive responses.

Open-ended questions allow respondents to provide much more detail and explanation in their answers. Unlike closed-ended questions that limit responses to a few words or a rating, open-ended questions give people the flexibility to fully express themselves.

• Respondents can provide important context around their experiences, thought processes, and motivations. This gives color, texture and background to their answers.
• They can offer detailed descriptions with vivid language, examples, and anecdotes that bring their responses to life. This creates a fuller picture.
• Explanations are encouraged, allowing them to articulate their reasoning, describe causes and effects, and make connections. This provides greater logic and insight.

2. Reveal Deeper Insights About Thoughts, Feelings, Opinions

By giving respondents freedom of expression, open-ended questions reveal deeper insights about their perspectives, mindsets, and emotions.

• They illuminate people’s internal motivations, fears, dreams, and beliefs that drive their behaviors and decisions. This provides a window into the psyche.
• They uncover complex reasoning and weighing of pros and cons that led to conclusions. This highlights nuanced thought processes.
• They give glimpses into emotional experiences and psychological influences beneath the surface. This builds empathy and understanding.

3. Promote Open Dialogue and Two-Way Communication

The flexible nature of open-ended questions allows for a smoother, more natural give-and-take conversation.

• They facilitate an easy back-and-forth flow as respondents expand on ideas and the questioner asks follow-up questions.
• Long pauses or awkward silences are prevented by the open-ended structure keeping the discussion moving.
• Unexpected insights can organically arise through this open dialogue, rather than sticking to a rigid script.

4. Help Build Rapport and Trust

By giving respondents freedom to share, open-ended questions demonstrate genuine interest in their point of view.

• This helps build rapport as respondents feel heard, respected and engaged.
• It establishes trust and willingness to be vulnerable, facilitating more honest, thoughtful responses.
• The questioner gains credibility by prioritizing the respondent’s complete perspective rather than fishing for certain answers.

5. Uncover More Information

Open-ended questions are ideal for gathering comprehensive information on topics where closed-ended questions would fall short.

• In research, the flexibility allows discovery of unexpected themes, sentiments and behaviors.
• In counseling, they permit clients to share anxieties and surface emotional needs on their own terms.
• In interviews, they help build a complete profile based on real narratives rather than superficial data points.

The expansive nature of responses to open-ended questions contains insights and intelligence that other question types cannot reveal. This makes them invaluable for in-depth qualitative research across fields.

How to Phrase Open-Ended Questions

1. use interrogative words.

Forming open-ended questions using interrogative words like who, what, when, where, why and how is an effective strategy to elicit detailed, explanatory responses. 

These question words encourage people to provide more thoughtful answers beyond just yes/no or one-word replies. For example, asking “Why did you make that decision?” or “How did you feel when that happened?” pushes respondents to reflect more deeply instead of reacting instinctually. 

They have to describe their motivations, thought processes, emotions and experiences in order to fully answer the question. 

Phrasing open-ended questions without using interrogative words often enables respondents to get away with shorter, more closed responses. The interrogative wording forces them to delve deeper and share more.

2. Begin Questions With Phrases Like “Tell Me About…”

Inviting descriptive responses by beginning open-ended questions with phrases like “Tell me about…” or “Describe…” is another impactful technique. 

This wording establishes clear expectations that an extensive, in-depth explanation is desired. Respondents recognize they have the freedom and permission to share details, context, examples, and backstories without worrying about providing the “right” simple answer. 

The “Tell me about…” or “Describe…” preamble signals that the questioner is interested in hearing their full perspective, not just surface-level facts. 

Starting open-ended questions in this way empowers respondents to open up comfortably without reservations about response length or format. It gets them primed to be thoughtful and reflective.

3. Keep Language Open and Non-Leading

Wording open-ended questions in an open, neutral way avoids biasing or leading respondents toward particular responses. 

Closed-ended questions often have baked-in assumptions or apply pressure to answer in a socially desirable way. Open-ended questions should completely avoid this by using objective, non-judgmental language. 

Don’t impose any preconceived notions or make respondents feel like there is a “correct” answer they should give. Let their experiences, thought processes, attitudes and beliefs emerge organically without being influenced. 

Keeping questions open-ended both linguistically and psychologically empower respondents to share their authentic perspectives, even if unexpected or contrary to assumptions.

4. Use Probing Follow-Up Questions

Following up on initial open-ended questions with probing questions is an excellent tactic to gather more details and encourage elaboration. 

For example, asking “Can you expand on that concept?” or “You mentioned [X] – what exactly do you mean by that?” demonstrates interest and pushes them to build on their original response with more depth, examples, context and clarity. 

Phrasing follow-ups using words like “elaborate,” “explain” or “describe” challenges respondents to dive deeper into their thought processes and unpack their statements further. 

Not accepting their original response at face value pressures them to provide richer descriptions and concrete evidence to back up their claims. This develops a fruitful dialogue rather than a one-off question.

When to Use Open-Ended Questions

1. during jtbd interviews.

Leveraging open-ended questions is incredibly effective throughout Jobs-to-Be-Done interviews to reveal the complete backstory and motivation surrounding customers’ purchases. 

The non-restrictive format gives customers the latitude to comprehensively describe the circumstances, emotions, frustrations and needs leading up to acquiring a product or service. 

Skilled interviewers utilize probing open-ended follow-ups to encourage vivid narratives and details about the full context around purchase occasions, rather than just superficial factors. Customers can elaborate extensively about their decision journey, thought processes, usage situations, pain points with previous options, requirements, and perceived risks. 

This provides a holistic understanding of the “job” the product was “hired” to do. Letting customers explain freely without constraints uncovers unexpected insights about usage behaviors, delighters, substitutes, and more that closed-ended questions would not organically reveal.

2. For Qualitative Market Research

For qualitative market research, open-ended inquiry delivers profoundly detailed understandings of how consumers truly perceive brands, make purchasing decisions and experience products day-to-day. 

The flexible format provides space for target consumers to explain in their own words their affiliations with brands, product/service usage occasions, decision motivations, pain points, moments of delight, desired outcomes and more. 

Researchers can deeply explore responses using “why” and “how” probes to uncover the psychological, emotional, social and functional factors driving consumer behaviours. 

This reveals strategic opportunities around positioning, messaging, feature development and customer experience design. 

While quantitative data establishes surface-level consumer trends, open-ended engagement provides meaningful qualitative context and language to inform smart strategy and create deep consumer connections.

3. To Gather Customer Feedback

Companies use open-ended questions to gather candid qualitative customer feedback that pinpoints priorities for improvement. 

Customers can explain frustrations, positive/negative experiences, emotional pain points and desires in their own words without being limited by pre-determined response options. 

Probing follow-up questions explores feedback more deeply to identify root causes of pain points versus superficial irritants. 

Customers also have space to provide suggestions to resolve issues and share moments that delight them. This constructive feedback is synthesized to guide enhancements across the customer journey, from marketing to product features to post-purchase experience and support. 

Closed-ended satisfaction scales fail to provide the rich narratives and insights needed to address problems and identify what matters most to customers.

Common Mistakes to Avoid With Open-Ended Questions

1. asking more than one question at a time.

Asking multiple questions at once is an extremely common mistake when using open-ended questions that significantly hinders their effectiveness. 

Overwhelming respondents with compound, complex or overlapping questions leaves them confused about which aspect to focus their response on. This results in vague, generalized answers that gloss over the nuances of each inquiry rather than providing the specific, deep insights each question warrants. 

Even elaborate responses to multi-part questions often lack the laser focus and structure needed to extract key themes. 

Additionally, blending different lines of inquiry into one big question makes it challenging to analyze and utilize the unstructured feedback. It’s far more effective to ask one open-ended question at a time, give the respondent space to answer thoroughly, and use strategic follow-ups to progressively build understanding. 

This disciplined approach avoids cognitive overload and provides the detail required to drive meaningful dialogue and derive actionable conclusions.

2. Using Closed-Ended Phrasing

It’s vital to pay close attention to the exact wording used when phrasing open-ended questions. Even subtle vocabulary issues can inadvertently create closed-ended questions that limit responses to yes/no, agree/disagree or basic data. 

Leading with verbs like “Do,” “Does,” “Is,” “Are,” or “Did” prompts closed responses rather than explanations. Asking “Why was that good?” or “How did you like it?” implies there was liking rather than allowing them to evaluate freely. 

The language itself should remain open and non-leading to empower respondents to share whatever perspectives or experiences emerge naturally, without assumptions. 

Carefully phrasing questions with neutral language like “Tell me about…” or “What factors influenced…” ensures responses contain unfiltered insights rather than confirmations of preconceived notions.

3. Not Allowing Enough Time for Responses

Rushing respondents to answer open-ended questions defeats their purpose of gathering in-depth insights and often results in abrupt, incomplete responses lacking meaningful substance. 

After asking an open-ended question, it’s essential to proactively give respondents adequate silent time to gather thoughts, reflect on experiences, and articulate responses before interrupting. 

If responses seem cursory, ask probing follow-up questions to draw out the rich details and explanations that open-ended inquiries are designed for. 

Making respondents feel pressed for time can also discourage sharing personal anecdotes or discussing sensitive topics that require vulnerability. Allowing ample time upfront ultimately saves effort compared to trying to recover depth through multiple ineffective follow-up questions after initially rushing the pace. Patience pays off by enabling thorough responses and productive, unhurried dialogue.

4. Neglecting Active Listening and Follow-Up

Failing to actively listen and ask follow-up questions after posing open-ended inquiries squanders their potential for deep, revealing discussion. 

Without planned follow-up, even thoughtful responses often remain surface-level and leave underlying perspectives unaddressed. 

Strategic probing follow-ups based on active listening are essential to dive deeper into relevant themes, gather illuminating examples and stories, understand nuanced thinking, and uncover subtle emotions. 

They show interest in the respondent’s vantage point rather than just checking a box. 

Simply letting responses conclude without probing for more is a lost opportunity to build understanding and interpersonal connections. Follow-ups demonstrate curiosity, clarify ambiguities, and encourage vulnerability through elaboration in their own authentic voice.

Tips for Success with Open-Ended Questions 

1. listen fully without interrupting.

Allowing respondents to answer open-ended questions without interruption demonstrates exemplary active listening skills and gives space for thoughtful, unfiltered responses. 

Jumping in too soon with follow-ups or tangents cuts off the initial flow of insight and risks losing unexpected revelations still percolating. 

Silence after asking an open-ended question can feel awkward, but resisting the temptation to immediately fill gaps leads to stronger dialogue and understanding in the long run. 

Even if responses seem slow to develop, interrupting can fluster respondents and inhibit substantive sharing. 

By listening patiently and without judgment from start to conclusion, you signal genuine interest in understanding their full perspective, making them more willing to open up candidly. This level of care and focus builds crucial trust and rapport that supports ongoing vulnerable sharing.

2. Ask Follow-Up Questions to Probe Deeper

Thoughtful, strategic open-ended follow-up questions are essential to probe initial responses more deeply for vivid examples, explanatory backstories and illuminating details that bring insight to life. 

Questions like “What drove that decision?” or “How did that make you feel?” demonstrate curiosity to learn more rather than passively accepting surface-level responses. 

Drawing out more textures, emotions, contexts and narratives helps co-construct meaning and perspective-taking. 

Follow a logical path of inquiry without bombarding respondents with tangents. Look for gaps to fill or opportunities to clarify and expand based on active listening. 

Continue probing with empathy and tact until satisfied with the depth and specificity of understanding. Mastering open-ended follow-up techniques leads to richer discoveries.

3. Remain Objective and Non-Judgmental

When facilitating responses to open-ended questions, it’s vital that tone, body language and verbal reactions remain completely neutral and non-judgmental, even if responses provoke internal surprise. 

Any hint of subjectivity could shut down honesty, making respondents hesitant to share freely in the future. 

Maintain engaged, affirmative eye contact and posture regardless of your personal feelings to foster a safe space. Never explicitly express disapproval, disagreement or shock. 

The goal is unfiltered insight into the respondent’s perspectives, not conformity with your own. Leave your biases aside to have an authentic, open-minded exchange. Let responses speak for themselves without revealing your own hand through unnecessary commentary.

4. Adjust Based on Situational Context

Successful use of open-ended questions requires reading situational contexts and adjusting questioning and follow-up techniques accordingly. 

In formal research interviews, maintain more structure and focus by sticking to clear lines of inquiry. In informal dialogue, conversations can flow more organically based on responses, following intriguing tangents. 

Consider factors like relationship status, power dynamics, setting formality, time constraints, response styles and emotional energy when deciding how tightly or loosely to guide the discussion. 

Get clarification if responses seem unclear. With sensitive topics, tread carefully and give space. Frame questions and probe with situational awareness to enhance positive outcomes.

5. Balance Open and Closed-Ended Questions

Both open and closed-ended questions play important complementary roles in gathering complete, multi-faceted information. 

Open-ended questions uncover deep qualitative insights through descriptive responses in the respondent’s own words. Closed-ended questions efficiently gather quantifiable data, opinions and facts. 

Relying solely on open-ended questions can lead to aimless rambling, while overusing closed-ended questions results in thin data lacking context. 

Develop mastery in blending, sequencing and transitioning smoothly between the two approaches. For example, use open-ended questions to explore themes and closed-ended questions to confirm conclusions. Balance them artfully based on the situation.

6. Use Proper Tone, Body Language, Eye Contact

Warm, conversational tone and friendly body language while asking open-ended questions and listening to responses help build crucial rapport and willingness to open up. 

Make regular eye contact to show engagement, leaning in slightly to signal interest in learning the respondent’s perspective. 

Avoid crossed arms or distracted glances at notes or devices which can seem closed-off. Reflect the respondent’s emotional tenor – if anxiety emerges around a topic, adopt a reassuring tone. 

Your nonverbals should make respondents feel heard, respected and comfortable revealing their authentic self without fear of judgment. A caring presence breeds candidness.

7. Take Notes on Key Information

During open-ended questioning dialogues, take concise notes on main discussion themes, powerful respondent quotes, follow-up topics, body language and insights that resonate rather than attempting to transcribe responses. 

Verbatim transcription is inefficient in capturing the core essence. Prioritize highlighting the main takeaways, defined terms, compelling stories and emotional moments that leave an impression. 

Review, organize and reflect on notes soon after while memory remains fresh to consolidate learnings and plan the next steps. 

Quality selective note-taking aids meaningful analysis of the wealth of unstructured qualitative information generated through open-ended engagement.

Frequently Asked Questions About Open-Ended Questions

1. Q: What is the difference between open-ended and closed-ended questions?

A: Open-ended questions elicit an explanatory response with detailed narrative, context and emotions. Closed-ended questions limit responses to a short phrase or numerical rating.

2. Q: When should I use open-ended questions versus closed-ended questions?

A: Use open-ended questions when seeking qualitative insights and detailed perspectives. Use closed-ended for quantifiable data or confirming hypotheses. Use both to balance breadth and depth.

3. Q: What phrases help encourage detailed responses to open-ended questions?

A: Phrases like “tell me more about “, “describe your experience”, and “explain your perspective on” encourage elaboration. Avoid yes/no phrasing.

4. Q: How can I avoid influencing the respondent’s answers to open-ended questions?

A: Use neutral language. Don’t lead towards expected or desired responses. Allow free expression without judgment or imposition of assumptions.

5. Q: How many open-ended questions should I ask at a time?

A: Ask one open-ended question at a time. Allow thorough response then ask focused follow-up questions to build understanding.

6. Q: How can I get respondents to open up more with open-ended questions?

A: Active listening, empathy, and non-judgment encourage openness. Probing gently with follow up questions signals interest in understanding their full perspective.

7. Q: What are some examples of good open-ended questions for research interviews?

A: “Tell me about your experience using this product”, “How did this make you feel?”, “What factors influenced your decision?”

8. Q: How can I tailor open-ended questions based on the situation and respondent?

A: Consider formality of setting, time constraints, rapport level, demographics, tone of conversation and emotions when crafting relevant, thoughtful questions.

9. Q: What listening skills are important for gathering the most from open-ended questions?

A: Focused, active listening without interruption. Probing follow-ups to draw out details. Objectivity. Empathy. Situational awareness.

10. Q: How can I remember to use open-ended questions more often?

A: Actively monitor your language for closed-ended phrasing. Pause after asking one question. Prepare follow-up questions in advance.

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Why Are Open-Ended Questions Important In Qualitative Research?

Nov 8, 2023 | User Acceptance Testing , User Research

Qualitative research is crucial in understanding the complexities of human behaviour, experiences, and perspectives.

Table of Contents

It allows researchers to explore the richness and depth of individuals’ thoughts, feelings, decision making process and motivations.

One of the critical tools in qualitative research is the use of open-ended questions. Open-ended questions invite respondents to provide detailed and personalised responses—allowing for a more nuanced understanding of the topic at hand.

This article aims to explore the importance of open-ended questions in qualitative research and share some actionable tips for crafting practical questions. So, let’s dig in!

What is qualitative research?

Before delving into the significance of open-ended questions, let’s first understand what qualitative research entails.

Qualitative research is an exploratory approach that aims to understand the meaning and interpretation individuals attach to their experiences.

Unlike quantitative research, which focuses on numerical data and statistical analysis, qualitative research emphasises in capturing the richness and depth of human experiences through methods like interviews, think aloud usability test, focus groups, and observations.

Objectives of qualitative research in usability testing

In the context of usability testing, qualitative research helps uncover users’ thoughts, emotions, and attitudes towards a product or service.

Fundamentally, it provides valuable insights into user behaviour, preferences, pain points, and areas for improvement.

By leveraging open-ended questions, researchers can uncover the underlying reasons behind users’ actions and gain a deeper understanding of their needs and expectations.

Differences between qualitative and quantitative research methods

Qualitative and quantitative research methods typically differ in their approaches, data collection techniques, and analysis.

For context, quantitative research focuses on numerical data, statistical analysis, and generalizability, while qualitative research seeks to explore and understand specific contexts, meanings, and interpretations.

Furthermore, qualitative research is more subjective, allowing for greater depth and richness of data, while quantitative research prioritises objectivity and generalizability.

What are open-ended questions?

Open-ended questions are questions that don’t have predefined or limited answer options. They encourage respondents to provide detailed and personalised responses, allowing them to express their thoughts, feelings, and experiences in their own words.

Unlike closed-ended questions, which may be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” or by selecting from a list of options, open-ended questions invite respondents to provide more elaborate and nuanced responses.

Characteristics of open-ended questions

Open-ended questions are characterised by several key elements that distinguish them from closed-ended questions, namely:

• Freedom of response: Respondents can express themselves freely with open-ended questions because there are no predetermined answer options.
• Richness of information: Open-ended questions encourage respondents to provide detailed and in-depth responses, providing researchers with a wealth of information.
• Flexibility: Open-ended questions give respondents the flexibility to respond in a way that makes sense to them, allowing for diverse perspectives and insights.
• Exploration of complexity: These questions help explore complex phenomena, opinions, and experiences that cannot be easily captured by closed-ended questions.

Importance of open-ended questions in qualitative research

Open-ended questions play a vital role in qualitative research for several reasons, namely:

Encouraging detailed responses

Open-ended questions enable respondents to provide more detailed and nuanced responses. By avoiding predetermined options, researchers can capture the richness and complexity of individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

This depth of information is invaluable in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the research topic.

Facilitating a deeper understanding

Open-ended questions provide researchers with a better understanding of participants’ perspectives, beliefs, attitudes, and experiences.

By allowing individuals to express themselves freely, researchers can gain insights into the underlying reasons behind their actions and decision-making processes.

This deeper understanding is crucial for uncovering the underlying motivations and meanings that drive human behaviour.

Flexibility and adaptability

Open-ended questions offer flexibility and adaptability in qualitative research. They give participants a platform to present fresh themes, concepts, and viewpoints that the researcher might not have anticipated.

This flexibility allows for the emergence of unexpected insights and encourages a more exploratory and dynamic research process.

Tips for crafting effective open-ended questions

Open-ended questions, designed to elicit rich and authentic responses, are essential tools for researchers seeking to unravel the depth of participant perspectives.

Here are some actionable tips to help you master the art of crafting effective, open-ended questions:

1. Align questions with objectives

Before penning down your open-ended questions, it’s crucial to align them with the overarching objectives of your research. Clear alignment ensures that each question serves a purpose in contributing to the depth and breadth of your study.

For example, if your objective is to understand user satisfaction with a new software interface, frame questions that specifically address different aspects of the UX design , such as navigation, font readability, and functionality.

2. Clarity and comprehension

Ambiguity in questions can hinder the quality of responses. Participants should easily comprehend the intent of each question, allowing them to provide insightful and relevant answers.

Always ensure that your questions are clear, concise, and free of jargon. Test your questions beforehand on a diverse audience to identify any potential confusion and refine them accordingly.

3. Maintain neutrality

A neutral tone in your questions is essential to minimise bias. Participants should feel free to express their genuine opinions without worrying about the researcher’s judgment.

Avoid injecting personal opinions, judgements, or assumptions into your questions. Instead, present inquiries in an objective and non-directive manner to foster an open and honest exchange.

4. Encourage openness

Creating an environment that encourages participants to open up is vital for qualitative research. Open-ended questions should invite participants to share their thoughts and experiences freely.

Begin questions with phrases that signal openness, such as “Tell me about…” or “Describe your experience with…” Such prompts set the stage for participants to share their perspectives openly.

5. Use probing questions

While open-ended questions provide an initial exploration, supplementing them with probing questions allows researchers to delve deeper into specific aspects.

Probing questions guide participants to elaborate on their initial responses.

After receiving an open-ended response, follow up with probing questions that seek clarification, ask for examples, or explore the participant’s feelings in more detail.

This layered approach enriches the data collected.

6. Frame questions that encourage respondents to share stories

Human experiences are often best expressed through stories. Crafting questions that invite participants to share narratives can provide a deeper understanding of their perspectives.

Furthermore, always ask questions that prompt participants to recount specific experiences or share anecdotes related to the topic. Remember, stories add context, emotion, and a human touch to the research data.

All things considered, the effectiveness of open-ended questions lies not only in their form but in the thoughtful application of these tips.

Common mistakes to avoid with open-ended questions

Pitfalls lurk along this path of crafting and using open-ended questions. It is important to be mindful of the common mistakes to ensure the authenticity and reliability of the data collected.

Let’s explore these potential pitfalls and learn how to navigate around them, shall we?

1. Leading questions

Leading questions subtly guide participants toward a particular response, often unintentionally injecting the researcher’s bias into the inquiry.

These questions can steer participants away from expressing their genuine thoughts and experiences.

Craft open-ended questions with a neutral tone, avoiding any language that may suggest a preferred answer. By maintaining objectivity, researchers create a safe space for participants to share their perspectives without feeling influenced.

Example of a Leading Question:

Leading: “Don’t you think the new feature significantly improved your user experience?”

Revised: “How has the new feature impacted your user experience?”

2. Double-barreled questions

Double-barreled questions address more than one issue in a single inquiry, potentially causing confusion for participants. This can lead to ambiguous or unreliable responses as participants may not clearly distinguish between the two issues presented.

Always break down complex inquiries into single-issue questions, as this not only enhances clarity but also allows participants to provide specific and focused responses to each component of the question.

Example of a Double-Barreled Question:

Double-barreled: “How satisfied are you with the product’s functionality and design?”

Revised: “How satisfied are you with the product’s functionality? How about its design?”

3. Overly complex questions

Complex questions, laden with jargon or convoluted language, can overwhelm participants. When faced with complexity, participants may struggle to comprehend the question, leading to vague or incomplete responses that do not truly reflect their experiences.

Frame questions in clear and straightforward language to ensure participants easily grasp the intent. A well-understood question encourages participants to provide thoughtful and meaningful responses.

Example of an Overly Complex Question:

Complex: “In what ways do the multifaceted functionalities of the application contribute to your overall user satisfaction?”

Revised: “How do the application’s features contribute to your overall satisfaction?”

In summary, open-ended questions are indispensable tools in qualitative research.

They allow UX researchers to explore the complexity and diversity of human experiences, thoughts, and perspectives.

Open-ended questions provide valuable insights that go beyond mere numerical data. It encourages detailed and personalised responses,.

Remember to align the questions with your research objectives, ensuring clarity and neutrality and encouraging openness and storytelling.

Researchers often learn more about their subjects and find valuable insights that drive meaningful research outcomes when they use open-ended questions.

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• Open vs Close-Ended Question: 13 Key Differences

Open and close-ended questions are common types of survey questions in research, which is why most people use them to gather data in a survey or questionnaire. Although open-ended and closed-ended questions look very different, many people still mistake one for the other.

Having a clear understanding of the differences between open-ended questions and close-ended questions helps you to create better surveys and get the most objective responses from your audience. This article explores both types of survey questions and explains when to use them in your research. 

What is a Close-Ended Question? 

A close-ended question is a type of survey question that limits respondents to a fixed set of predetermined responses. In other words, it requires the respondent to choose an answer from the limited answer-options listed in the question; the respondent cannot provide answers outside these options. 

Close-ended questions are typically used in quantitative research to gather statistical information from respondents. Also; the number of answer-options in close-ended questions is not fixed; there can be 2 or more listed options depending on the objective of the survey. 

What is an Open-Ended Question?

An open-ended question is a type of survey question that does not restrict respondents to already-provided answer options. An open-ended question requires the respondent to fully express himself or herself as they provide answers to questions. 

Unlike close-ended questions, open-ended questions have a broad focus and allow respondents to provide extensive answers. They also give you better insights into the thoughts, expectations, and experiences of the respondent since they can freely express themselves. 

Here are 13 differences between Close and Open-ended Questions

A closed-ended question is a survey question that restricts respondents to limited answer-options while an open-ended question is a survey question that allows respondents to communicate their answers without any restrictions. This means that unlike close-ended questions, open-ended questions allow you to provide free-form answers. 

Close-ended questions help you to get specific and straight-to-the-point answers from respondents, unlike open-ended questions where you have to filter the information you need from the responses provided. Close-ended questions provoke simple responses while open-ended questions provoke complex responses. 

Examples of open-ended questions include; “how do you think this fits into your work?”, “what do you think about our service delivery?” and “describe how this product meets your needs?”, among others. On the other hand, examples of close-ended questions include:

• Have you used this product before?
• Did you enjoy using our product?
• Was this article helpful?

As seen in the above-listed samples, close-ended questions are precise and quite definite. Open-ended questions, as shown above, are structured in a way that they elicit a variety of responses from survey participants. This means that open-ended questions allow for more flexible responses. 

Common types of close-ended questions include dichotomous questions and multiple-choice questions. A dichotomous question contains binary answer-options and is typically structured as yes/no questions or true/false questions while multiple-choice questions provide respondents with multiple answer options that can be structured as checkboxes or radio choices. 

On the other hand, common types of open-ended questions include what, where, when, and how questions. These are questions that typically require the respondent to provide more than a single-word answer, and fully describe their thoughts and experiences in line with the assertion or subject matter. 

• Purpose (Aims/Objectives)

The objective of close-ended questions is to help the researcher collect statistical information that can serve as quantitative data while the purpose of open-ended questions is qualitative data collection. Open-ended questions allow you to gain better insights into the minds of the respondents. 

Close-ended questions aim to obtain precise and specific information from respondents on a defined subject matter. Here, you want to eliminate unnecessary information and simply focus on collecting well-tailored information that is useful to the specific research context or the assertion that is being considered. 

• Advantages of Open-Ended Over Close-Ended Questions

Unlike close-ended questions, listing open-ended questions in your survey allows you to gather a variety of data from respondents. In other words, it allows for an infinite number of possible answers which lends further credibility to your research findings in the end. 

Another huge advantage of open-ended questions over close-ended questions is that they allow you to collect more data from respondents. Unlike close-ended questions, open-ended questions are crafted to provide respondents with ample opportunity to express themselves fully and provide clarity on responses. 

• Advantages of Close Ended Over Open-Ended Questions

Unlike open-ended questions, close-ended questions are quick and easy to answer and this helps you to save time; especially when it comes to large-scale data collection. This means that you can gather data swiftly using close-ended questions while open-ended questions can create a time-lag during data collection. 

Another advantage of close-ended questions over open-ended questions is that close-ended questions result in data that is easy to process and analyze. Since close-ended questions gather statistical information, it is easy for you to code and analyze these pieces of information. 

• When to Use Open-Ended Questions and Close-ended Questions

Open-ended questions are used when you want to collect qualitative data while close-ended questions can be to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. Open-ended questions allow you to gather free-end information about the research subject matter while close-ended questions allow you to gather numerical information for statistical analysis of the research context. 

Close-ended questions are used when you want to collect precise and specific information from respondents. Close-ended questions are important in quantitative research because they help you to collect numerical data from respondents. 

Close-ended questions collect quantitative data while open-ended questions collect qualitative data. Quantitative data refers to data whose value is measured in the form of numbers or counts, with a unique numerical value associated with each data set while qualitative data is the type of data that describes the information. 

• Data Collection Methods

Observation, interviews, and focus groups are common data collection methods for open-ended questions. On the other hand, close-ended questions are asked via quantitative data collection methods like surveys and questionnaires. 

These qualitative data collection methods used for open-ended questions create a context that allows respondents to fully communicate their ideas and thoughts with the researcher. In the same vein, quantitative research methods like surveys and questionnaires used for close-ended questions help you to gather precise responses at the right time. 

It takes a longer period for respondents to provide answers to open-ended questions. This is because open-ended questions require the respondents to provide detailed accounts of their thoughts, expectations, and experiences as is relevant to the research context. 

On the other hand, close-ended questions can be completed in a shorter time frame because they are brief and straight to the point. Also, answer options are already provided in close-ended questions. So, all the respondent needs to do is choose an option that best reflects his or her position.

• Data Reporting

Data collected via open-ended questions are usually reported as an individual or grouped verbal responses while the data provided from responses to close-ended questions are typically reported as statistical information. This is because close-ended questions result in data that is quantifiable unlike what is obtainable in open-ended questions. 

Asking open-ended questions in your survey or questionnaire can result in gathering a lot of irrelevant information. This is because open-ended questions are not designed to streamline responses. Instead, they allow respondents to provide as much information as they want to in response to a question. 

Close-ended questions, on the other hand, allow you to collect precise and streamlined information from respondents. Close-ended questions provide a set of limited answer options that are already streamlined to suit the research contexts and needs of the systematic investigation.  

Interviews and focus groups are common contexts for open-ended questions while high volume mobile surveys are common contexts for close-ended questions. This is because interviews and focus groups often require qualitative responses unlike high volume mobile surveys that require precise and specific responses. 

How to Create Open & Close Ended Questions with Formplus 

In your Formplus surveys, you can include open-ended questions and close-ended to help you gather data from respondents in the best way. As a survey tool, Formplus has different features and form fields that make it easy for you to ask close and open-ended questions in your survey. 

Here’s how to create open and close-ended questions using Formplus.

• Access your Formplus dashboard via www.formpl.us
• Click on the create new form button to access the Formplus builder. Here, you can start building your survey.

• The Formplus builder has different form fields that you can add to your survey easily. You can drag and drop preferred fields into your form.
• To include an open-ended question in your survey, scan through the form fields section in the builder, and click on the “long text” field to add it to your form. You can also drag and drop the field into your form.

• After adding the field, click on the pencil icon just beside it to edit the field. Clicking on this pencil icon will display an editing tab where you can input your open-ended question and even make it required. Save any changes you make to the field to your form. 

• To add a close-ended question to your survey, click on the “choice” option in the field section. This will reveal a drop-down menu where you can choose the kind of choice option you want in your survey; whether checkboxes or radio options. Click on the one you prefer to add it to your form. 
• If you need more than one field of the same type, you can duplicate it in your form by clicking on the “copy” icon beside the field. 
• Just like you did with the open-ended question, click on the “edit” icon beside the form field to add your close-ended question and answer options. 

• Click on the Save button to customize your form. In the builder’s customization section, you can modify the appearance of your form using different form customization options. For example, you can add preferred background images to your form or change the form font to suit your needs. 

• Finally, copy the form link and share this with respondents. You can use any of our multiple form sharing options to get your survey across to respondents. 

Conclusion 

Close and open-ended questions are important in research as they help you to gather quantitative and qualitative data from respondents. Both question types apply to specific contexts that rarely overlap – close-ended questions restrict respondents to limited options while open-ended questions allow respondents to provide as much information as they want.  

As a researcher, you need to know what close-ended and open-ended questions are plus how you can use each of these in your research. Getting familiar with different types of survey questions; especially knowing their strengths and weaknesses, helps you to create more effective surveys. 

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The Ultimate Guide to Open-Ended Questions vs. Closed-Ended Questions

• Written By Lena Katz
• Updated: November 15, 2023

What is an open-ended question? An open-ended question is one that can only be answered by a unique thought or statement in someone’s own words. Unlike a closed-ended question, it cannot be answered in one word, or by yes/no, or by multiple choice. Open-ended questions encourage people to incorporate more of their own information and point of view.

For stronger connections,  better insights , and more business, experts recommend one conversational tool above all in the demo or discovery phase: open-ended questions. Profile writers use them all the time to elicit thoughts and anecdotes from their subjects.

Smart marketers also use them to maximize authentic engagement with new business leads and current clients. However, there’s a method and skill required to ask open-ended questions… and part of it is realizing and leveraging the other, equally important benefits of asking closed-ended questions.

In this article, we’ll go over the best habits to get into for asking open-ended questions, when to use closed-ended questions instead, scenarios when you might need to use both, the different ways they impact data collection , and some examples of open versus closed questions as used in marketing, sales, and content interviews.

But first, a little teaser of examples for each approach…

Examples of open-ended questions:

• Where would you like your business to grow from here?
• What would success look like to you?
• What campaigns are out there right now that caught your eye, and for what reasons?
• What are a couple of day-to-day practices of yours that people can implement for greater success/fulfillment in their own lives?
• Can you give me a few dates for a follow-up call?

Examples of closed-ended questions

• Are you satisfied with your current sales numbers?
• What is your #1 goal?
• Did you like your competitor’s latest campaign/commercial?
• Where can someone go to learn more about what you do?
• When would you like to set a follow-up?

What is an open-ended question?

An open-ended question is one that can only be answered by a unique thought or statement in someone’s own words — it cannot be answered in one word, or by yes/no, or by multiple choice. Open-ended questions encourage people to come up with a more thoughtful and filled-out answer incorporating more of their own information and point of view.

People who want to keep an exchange of information and flow of thoughts going with whomever they’re interviewing will generally stick with open-ended questions. These questions encourage interviewees to explore their “why” and to give context to their decisions.

They illuminate the reasoning behind decisions and opinions. In interviews, they help the writer/producer get to know and understand a subject… and then pass that insight along to readers.

Why/when are open-ended questions recommended/important?

They can be used at any time when it’s more important to the interviewer to elicit thoughts and opinions and insights than to get definitive answers.

Situations may include:

• Informational interviews with business prospects
• Discovery sessions with potential or new clients
• Feedback sessions with existing clients
• Testimonial interviews
• Interviews for profiles
• Market research — when you’re trying to gauge people’s perception of a brand
• Market research — customer insight interviews
• Customer satisfaction surveys —  solicit people’s opinions

Do’s for crafting open-ended questions:

• Do start off with “Why…” or “What…” But if you fear that even with that opening, your question will lead to a succinct answer, build in a request for the interviewee to share their thoughts, not get straight to the point.
• Do ask people to explain something.
• Do ask people for their thoughts on something.
• Do ask for an example.
• Do remember, an open-ended question can also be phrased as a statement: “Tell me about a moment when…”
• Do follow a closed-ended question with an open-ended question — to get exact data, and then an explanation of the data provided.

Don’ts for crafting open-ended questions:

• Don’t make them so broad that people get confused.
• Don’t encourage lengthy answers to every question (especially if this is a survey situation).
• Don’t overuse them and forget to get quantitative data.
• Don’t make them two-part questions where each part requires its own separate train of thought.
• Don’t prompt an answer or make any suggestions that could push an answer in a certain direction.

What is a closed-ended question?

We’ve briefly touched upon closed-ended questions just to compare with open-ended ones. Now, let’s define exactly what they are and in what scenarios it’s better to use them.

Closed-ended questions require one specific answer — either a yes/no or a choice between a few options. Sometimes they’re in pursuit of a fact, and sometimes a decision. These types of questions are used to collect quantitative data , which can be mapped out on charts or graphs.

The answers are also used to come up with numerical ratings of how a company is performing or meeting customer expectations. When used by salespeople, closed-ended questions can also be a tactic to assess how cold or warm a lead is, and to move the sales process along.

For interviewers such as writers, closed-ended questions are often used to establish background facts about a topic or person. They can also be used for winding up an exploratory Q+A session with some definitive conclusions.

You see this on reality TV interviews often. One person shares her drama with another cast member, explores the person’s possible motivations, speculates on her intentions, and then the interviewer asks:  Do you trust that person?   No.   Do you still think of her as a friend?   No.

It puts a bow on the conversation and lets viewers know where the storyline is headed.

Why/when are closed-ended questions important to use?

• When you want to get fast facts or basic biographical details
• When you need answers to be exact
• When you are collecting quantitative data
• When the answer is provided, it will determine whether or not it makes sense to continue pursuing a lead (especially related to budget and timeline)
• When you are setting goals and KPIs that you’ll be expected to deliver against
• When you’re fact-checking
• When your legal department is going to want to put information into a contract

Do’s for crafting closed-ended questions:

• Do begin the question with Have , Will or Do/Did .
• Do switch up the question structure between yes/no, multiple-choice, rating scale multiple-choice, and fact-based answers.
• Do create the questions according to what data you need to get from a study, survey, or questionnaire.
• Do follow (or lead) a closed-ended question with an open-ended question to get both quantitative and qualitative information.

Don’ts for crafting closed-ended questions:

• Don’t provide a selection of multiple choice answers that’s too limited to cover the full range of possibilities.
• Don’t assume that everyone will be able to make a yes/no answer based on their experience of something.
• Don’t attempt to craft complex or two-part questions as you might with an open-ended question.
• Don’t use this format to explore emotions or feelings.
• Don’t create a survey or study that is only closed-ended questions; at minimum have an open-ended question at the end of each section that allows people to explain their answers or give context to them.

Open-ended vs. closed-ended questions

Let’s have a look at the different purposes they serve, how they complement each other, what kind of data they garner, and how each can be used in our three scenarios (a sales call, a marketing exercise, a writers’ interview).

• An open-ended question opens up a topic for exploration and discussion while a closed-ended question leads to a closed-off conversational path. After “Yes” or “No” or the specific one-word answer to the question, the thread is done.
• Open-ended questions lead to qualitative answers while closed-ended questions lead to quantitative answers.
• Open-ended questions ask people for their why while closed-ended questions ask people for their decision .

In shopper behavior analysis:

• Open-ended questions spend time peeling back the layers of why someone feels some way about a product.
• Closed-ended questions take a person through their buying habits: how often do they buy a product, which brand do they typically buy, have they heard of your brand, do they buy it.

In sales meetings:

• Open-ended questions help you understand your potential customer better.
• Closed-ended questions help you realistically decide whether there’s business to close.

In marketing research:

• Open-ended questions are good for getting customer insights.
• Closed-ended questions are good for establishing who is a loyal customer and who has little brand awareness or loyalty.

In writing profiles or bios:

•  Open-ended questions are good for establishing a connection, getting lots of nuanced details, and pulling back the curtain on a person’s life.
• Closed-ended questions are good for establishing their credentials , hitting biographical details, and fact-checking anecdotes you discovered during preliminary research.

Sample open-ended questions vs. closed-ended questions

10 open-ended vs. closed question set examples

For sales professionals.

When you’re in sales, open-ended questions are good for understanding more about your customer and opening up a real dialogue. Closed-ended questions are good for getting prospects to let you know whether they have any intentions of signing a contract any time soon.

Sales example 1:

CLOSED : Were you happy with your former [agency/SaaS provider/other competing product or vendor]? OPEN : What was it about your former [competing product/vendor] that has you looking for a new vendor?

Sales example 2:

CLOSED:  Are you satisfied with your current sales numbers? OPEN : Where would you like your business to grow from here?

Sales example 3:

CLOSED : Have you ever executed the kind of project/campaign we specialize in before, either on your own or with a different partner? OPEN : Tell me about a case study or existing campaign/project in the market that is in this category that you really like. It can be one of your own, or another company.

Sales example 4:

CLOSED : (after a product demo) Do you have any questions? OPEN :  We went through a lot of information just now. What part stood out to you the most, either because you loved it or because you’d like a little more time to understand?

Sales example 5:

CLOSED : (after going through prices) Does this fall more-or-less into the budget range you have in mind? OPEN:  Could you tell me how you’d want to customize a scope-of-work or what services would be important to you? That way I can come up with a price quote.

Sales example 6:

CLOSED : What’s your main goal that you’re hoping I can help with? OPEN :  What are your immediate and also your big-picture goals?

Sales example 7:

CLOSED : Are you interested in buying/subscribing to/getting a membership to the product I’ve shown you today? OPEN : Now that we’ve previewed our product/service together, what are you thinking your next step will be?

Sales example 8:

CLOSED : When would you like to set a follow-up? OPEN : Can you give me a few dates for a follow-up call?

Sales example 9:

CLOSED : Do you feel like you got all the information you needed? OPEN : Before we wrap, can you tell me what you’d like to look over again — either here or as an email follow-up?

Sales example 10:

CLOSED : On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate our team’s service up to this point? OPEN : Please share anything specific that stood out to you about the service you’ve received from our team so far.

10 open-ended vs. closed question set examples for marketers

Marketers are constantly interacting with customers, stakeholders, current clients and leads — their lives are an interesting mix of collecting data and fostering connection.

Just look at a social media manager’s day-to-day: Half may be spent analyzing paid campaign results and crunching numbers. The other half may be spent following up on an angry customer’s Facebook tirade or getting people’s permission to use content for UGC.

Today’s marketer needs to be able to flip from analyzing facts to feelings, balance trends with tried-and-true, ask closed-ended to open-ended questions instantaneously, and then explain their findings to the non-marketers that they work with or are hoping to work with soon.

Marketing example 1:

CLOSED : Are you satisfied with the quantity and quality of new business leads you’re currently getting? OPEN : What are your thoughts on the new business/lead-gen process at your company as it is now?

Marketing example 2:

CLOSED : What is your #1 goal? OPEN : What would success look like to you?

Marketing example 3:

CLOSED : Have you considered putting your budget toward X channel or tactic? OPEN : What channels and tactics do you feel are important to include in your next marketing plan?

Marketing example 4:

CLOSED : Did you like your competitor’s latest campaign/commercial? OPEN : What campaigns are out there right now that caught your eye, and for what reason?

Marketing example 5:

CLOSED : Which of the four logos shown here is best in your opinion? OPEN : Why did that one stand out to you?

Marketing example 6:

CLOSED : On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied were you with the information provided on our website? OPEN : What areas/sections do you think we can improve and how?

Marketing example 7:

CLOSED : Did you like the first version of the video I just sent over? OPEN : If you had a chance to watch the video I sent, what’s your feedback?

Marketing example 8:

CLOSED : What’s your budget for this activation/campaign/partnership? OPEN : There are a few ways we’ve discussed that a partnership could play out. How flexible is your budget if I were to send three different options?

Marketing example 9:

CLOSED : Are you mainly looking at reach, engagement or conversion as the key metric to gauge success in this campaign? OPEN : Let’s discuss what KPIs will be used to determine success in this campaign.

Marketing example 10:

CLOSED : Can we move forward with X project at $X budget for the dates presented? OPEN : We are ready to answer any final questions you might have before moving forward with this project.

10 open-ended vs. closed question set examples for interviewers:

One pitfall that’s common and you really need to be cautious of with experts and executives is the false open-ended question. This is a question phrased so it could lead to a personal anecdote or insight, but could also be answered with a “No.”

While experts and execs usually like to talk about their work , they will sometimes answer something with a simple “No” because they haven’t thought about it before, and they don’t really have an opinion.

All the open-ended sample questions here are crafted to avoid the possibility of a “No.”

Interview example 1:

CLOSED : What’s your job title? OPEN : How would you describe your professional specialty/expertise /niche?

Interview example 2:

CLOSED : What’s your focus right now? OPEN : Tell me one of your key focuses right now and why you’re interested in it.

Interview example 3:

CLOSED : Do you like X trend? OPEN : Name three of your favorite trends in our industry right now and why you like them.

Interview example 4:

CLOSED : What would you consider your key accomplishment in your field to be? OPEN : Please walk us through the accomplishment that gave you the most satisfaction in your career.

Interview example 5:

CLOSED : What degrees, awards or certifications do you have? OPEN : Of the degrees and awards you’ve received, which would you say are the most meaningful, and why?

Interview example 6:

CLOSED : Was it difficult to transition from [#1 well-documented career] to [#2]? OPEN : You successfully transitioned from [#1 well-documented career] to [#2]. Explain to us how that happened.

Interview example 7:

CLOSED : Can you tell us who will be in your next project/speaking at your next event? OPEN : How do you choose collaborators or speakers for your projects/events?

Interview example 8:

CLOSED : Where can someone go to learn more about what you do? OPEN : What are a couple day-to-day practices of yours that people can implement for greater success/fulfillment in their own lives?

Interview example 9:

CLOSED : What’s new/next for you? OPEN : What upcoming project or venture are you most excited about and why?

Interview example 10:

CLOSED : What social channels can we find you at? OPEN : If we all go follow you on Instagram or Twitter, what kind of content are we going to see?

Open- and closed-ended questions are equally valuable.

While open-ended questions are a buzzword among salespeople and business coaches right now, we think the proper mix of open- and closed-ended is essential to any discovery process.

If you understand the difference between them, know how and for what purpose to use each, and can rework a closed-ended question into an open-ended question on the fly when needed, then you’re halfway to being a great interviewer .

Whether in sales or medical research or journalism, questions are a means to create connections and explore stories. They’re also a way to get useful data. One leads to the “why,” and the other leads to the “yes.”

The real question is: What’s next?

Now that you’re an expert on open and closed-ended questions, you’ll be a master at creating authentic engagement with your brand. But if you need some help, ClearVoice has got you covered. Our managed content creation and expert teams can help you produce content that can maximize your brand’s growth and impact. Connect with us here to see how.

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surveys | December 18, 2019

Open-Ended Question: What it is, How to Use it (+Examples)

Daniel Ndukwu

Customer research is a large discipline with multiple methods to get the right information from your audience or customer base. 

Surveys are among the most effective ways to get deep insights from your most engaged users. It helps you understand how they feel about specific topics and give you perspectives – through open-ended questions – you might have otherwise missed.

These insights, also known as the voice of the customer , can expand your marketing , improve your products, and cancel out objections. In a world of choice, this is becoming even more important.

In this article, you’ll learn what open-ended questions are, their advantages, how to use them, and solid examples to make them easier to implement.

Table of Contents

What is an Open-Ended Question?

Open-ended questions are a type of unstructured survey question that allows the respondent more room to reply in an open text format thereby providing the opportunity to give more detailed answers. The only limitation usually imposed is a character limit so open-ended questions can be divided into long answer and short answer questions. 

Put another way, a respondent can draw on their knowledge, feelings, and understanding of the question and topic to give more insightful answers. They’re not limited by preset question options. 

An example of an open-ended question could be “how do you feel about your new job?”

Research from Vision Critical found that 87% of consumers want to have a say in a company’s products and services. Open-ended questions give them the opportunity to share information in a way that close ended questions don’t. 

Open-Ended Vs Close Ended Questions

As shared in the last section, open-ended questions are free-form and allow respondents to use an open text format to give replies. They’re able to say whatever they want in response to your questions. 

Close ended questions, on the other hand, are structured and have a preset group of questions a respondent can answer. Though they can still help you, you’re not able to use the voice of the customer to inform your decisions. 

Each one has merits and demerits. For example, an open-ended question allows you to probe much deeper but a close ended question allows you to get concise information that can be quantified. It’s much easier to quantify yes or nos than a paragraph of text. 

A relatable example comes from the standardized tests most of us took in school. They usually had two parts – the multiple-choice questions which are equivalent to close ended questions and the essay questions which are equal to open-ended questions. 

A close ended question: Yes or No – Was George Washington was the first president of the United States? 

An open-ended question: From the perspective of the British, what was the cause of the Revolutionary War?

As you can see from the examples, the open-ended survey questions will give you a look into the thought process of your customers. 

Advantages of open-ended questions

Some advantages are obvious while others aren’t but they tend to be more important than the disadvantages because the responses you get have so many direct tangible uses for your business. A few of the advantages include:  

Thoughtful responses

With a series of multiple-choice questions, respondents can quickly scan and choose an answer. That answer may or may not be indicative of how they feel. Open-ended questions force your respondents to slow down long enough to consider the question and give a thoughtful answer. 

Even if they give a short answer that doesn’t shed much light on the situation, it’s still helpful. It tells you the respondent’s answers shouldn’t have as much weight. 

Customers can share their feelings 

The internet is crowded. The lifespan of a Tweet is about 30 minutes and that of a Facebook post is roughly 1 hour. Anything you say is lost in a short amount of time. 

With surveys and open-ended questions, you give your customers an opportunity to voice their opinions and create in a way that can create change in your organization. If they like what you’re doing and care about your products then they’ll take the time to give you useful feedback. 

Identifying weak spots 

Close ended questions are notorious for only giving you half the answer you need. For example, if you ask a customer “how was your experience with us today?” and they answer “disappointing”, there’s no room to ask them why. This can leave you wondering if you have a real problem.

An open-ended question gives them the opportunity to tell you it was disappointing and lay out the reasons why. With that information, you can determine if it was an isolated incident or something that demands immediate attention. 

More Detailed Information

Open-ended questions were built to deliver qualitative information and, like we talk about in our free course , the more detailed the information you get from a respondent the more engaged they are. 

That information is indicative of your hottest buyer segment and the details they reveal will help you create better messages, identify your ideal target market , and otherwise make the right decisions in your business. 

The key to using the extra information these types of survey questions can give you is to look for patterns in the data. If one person says something then you may or may not be on the verge of a breakthrough. If five or ten people say something similar then there’s promise. 

When you should use open-ended questions

These questions lend themselves well to qualitative research. That means they should be used when quality is more important than the quantity of data. 

In other words, it’s used when you want to use the answers to find deep insights into the mind of your target audience. For example, you’d use them in the following situations: 

•   When a detailed response is needed so you can use the voice of the customer or detect patterns in the types of responses you get.
•   When you want your prospects to think critically about the question and the possible response they’ll give
•   If varied answers will help you develop a better understanding of the topic or field (like when you want to enter a new market ).
•   When you need to ask complicated questions and your respondents will benefit from being able to work through their thought process.

When to avoid open-ended questions

Unfortunately, you can’t always use open-ended questions. Sometimes,  a quick answer is ideal. For example, you want to know if someone has heard of your brand before. There’s no need to wax poetic about the possible reasons why they’ve not heard of it. Yes or no will do.

There are multiple situations in which free-form questions would do more harm than good. A few of them include: 

• When you have a longer survey and are short on resources to analyze the patterns in text answers 
• If you want to make a quick and automated analysis of the data
• Only have basic questions that don’t need much expansion
• Have a structured survey that derives it’s usefulness when a respondent chooses one of the available answers (like an NPS style survey or a Likert scale survey ) 

The correct way to ask open-ended questions

There is a right way and a wrong way to ask questions – especially open-ended questions. Like all surveys, you want to collect unbiased data so you can make decisions that move the needle in the right direction. The wording of your questions can have a big impact on how its perceived by your respondent. 

Don’t lead respondents

Surveys are not the time to convince someone of your view or to purposely elicit a positive response. Avoid wording that would predispose someone to answer positively or negatively. 

For example, a question like “we’re considered a market leader and have over 10,000 customers, what do you think about our company?” is biased. It predisposes the respondent to give you positive feedback.  

Consider talking to a team member or an impartial third party and showing them your questions to ensure they’re not biased. Put yourself in the shoes of the respondent and ask yourself if the question makes you feel positively or negatively towards the person asking. 

Use close ended and open-ended questions together

This method is a staple of consumer research. The most effective surveys ask a close-ended question and, depending on how the respondent answers, an open-ended question is used as a follow-up. It helps focus the respondent and bring out insights that would otherwise be missed by a close-ended question. 

Another benefit of using these two questions together stems from getting qualitative and quantitative answers. You’re able to say X people were dissatisfied with the product and X people were satisfied. For the ones who were dissatisfied, these are the reasons and places where we can improve.

Be aware of the Difference Between Question Types

At times, it can be difficult to determine if a closed or open question will be better for your needs. There’s a quick way to determine the best type. If you want the reasons behind an answer then use open-ended. If you want the raw answer without explanations then use the close ended questions. 

Of course, this should be determined on a case by case basis. When in doubt, it may be a better idea to change the question or exclude it altogether. It’s more important to get clean data.

Focus on feelings before facts

Phrase your questions so they’ll help you understand the reasons and emotions behind an answer. Instead of “How would you describe your support experience today?” Ask “how do you feel about your support experience today?” 

The difference is subtle but it can help you understand the emotions associated with an experience or product. If it’s a negative sentiment then you can take steps to change that. If it was a positive sentiment then you can focus on doubling down on what’s working.

11 Open-Ended Question Examples 

1. how does x make you feel.

This question leans towards an emotional response instead of a purely objective one. It’s helpful when finding marketing copy that incorporates the voice of the customer.

2. What do you consider fun?

This question is useful because it helps reveal psychographic information and can also help you uncover different ways to position your products. For example, you can be the perfect widget for bike enthusiasts. 

3. What brought you to our website today?

This works on two separate levels. You can find out which advertising channels are working and the reason why people are seeking you out. This will help refine your messaging. 

4. What are your thoughts about ‘Product X’?

The question above reveals unbiased information about how your products are perceived. You’re asking the customer to say what they think is good (or bad) about your products.

5. What can we do better?

This question is direct and assumes that there’s room for improvement in your products and services. Use with caution because it may force your respondent to find problems where none exist.

6. What aspects of our website do you like?

This, again, is a direct question that may force users to mention things they don’t truly like. Use with caution. 

7. How do you prefer to shop (or workout, or travel, etc.)?

Questions like these help you derive insights that make your products fit seamlessly into the lives of your target market. If your people like to work out at home, you can create products that cater to that preference. If they like to travel by road, you can create relevant products. 

8. What do you like about x?

The X here can be general or specific depending on what you chose to focus on. For example, “what do you like about our customer service or what do you like about our company?” One of the questions gives a broad answer and the other is focused.

9. What do you dislike about x?

The opposite perspective of the previous question open-ended question.

10. How can we create a better experience for you? 

These questions focus on the direct improvement of a product or service. For example, what can we do to make your support experience better?

11. How can we make it easier for you to purchase today?

This question may not be ideal for a standard questionnaire because it works best in real-time. Instead, you can use it in your live chat or chatbots to engage people at the point of purchase.

Conclusion 

There are multiple ways to go about customer research. One of the most powerful and inexpensive is surveys. 

They can give you deep insights from a large number of people in a relatively short amount of time. This article has gone through everything you need to know to make effective open-ended questions to improve your business and grow your audience. 

Let me know what you think in the comments and don’t forget to share it. 

Open-ended question FAQ

What is an open-ended question.

Open-ended questions are a type of unstructured survey question that allows the respondent more room to reply in an open text format and provides the opportunity to give more detailed answers

What are the advantages of open-ended questions?

• More thoughtful responses
• Respondents can give more detailed answers which reveal more insights
• Give respondents an opportunity to speak their minds
• Identify weak spots in your organization

What to consider before using open-ended questions?

• The way the question is worded
• How to follow-up with responses for maximum value
• The right time to use open-ended and close ended questions

Are close ended or open-ended questions better?

This depends on the situation and your goals. Open-ended questions give more insights but close ended can help with quantification of responses.                    

Good evening, My name is Cristina Raffaghello, Adjunct Professor at Eastern Piedmont University in Vercelli and online e-campus University Novedrate, Italy. In my opinion, your article is useful for teaching, as well. Do you think I may use in my course of Germanic Philology? This discipline regards the origin and development of Germanic languages (English, German, Frisian Gothic and Islandic) from linguistical, juridical, historical and literary viewpoints. I thank you for your attention. Cheers, Cristina

Of course Cristina, you’re free to use it to teach your students.

I want to write research proposal on knowledge and practices on malnutrition amongst women can I use open or closed questionnaire

Both, of course. It depends on the kind of data you’re looking for and how well-versed you are on the topic before conducting the research.

This is so interesting

Inspiring, educative. I am doing a qualitative research study, and I find both open and closed.-ended questions fitting

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Related Articles

How to Ask Open-Ended Questions (& The 150 Best to Ask)

Asking questions increases your likeability. But the way you ask questions matters too. Ask open-ended questions to boost your conversations!

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Did you know? When you ask someone questions about themselves, it makes you more likable 1 https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/35647952 !

But research shows, the way you ask a question 2 https://hbr.org/2018/05/the-surprising-power-of-questions makes a big difference, too. 

Watch our video below to learn how to start a conversation with anyone using these killer conversation starters:

Some of the best conversations start with open-ended questions that lead people to open up and form deeper connections.

In this article, we’ll look at open-ended questions, their benefits, and various scenarios where you can use them to boost your conversation skills (and likeability!).

What are Open-Ended Questions?

Open-ended questions are questions that are designed to encourage people to share more than a one-word response and typically start with words like “what,” “how,” or “why.” Open-ended questions help people expound on an idea or issue and carry the conversation forward without getting stunted in potentially awkward silence or little to no information for someone else to bounce off of.

Some of the best places to use open-ended questions include:

• Social gatherings
• Networking events
• Job interviews
• Feedback meetings
• Sales calls
• Brainstorming sessions
• Qualitative survey data research
• Counseling and therapy sessions
• Conversations with kids (or anyone!)
• Medical appointments

“Ask questions the other person will enjoy answering.” —Dale Carnegie

To avoid stunting your conversations, you may want to stay away from closed-ended questions. But what’s the difference? Let’s look at how to avoid those awkward silences.

What’s the Difference Between Closed-Ended and Open-Ended Questions? 

Closed-ended questions lead people to give a one-word response like “yes” or “no,” whereas open-ended questions are great conversation starters or boosters that help bring energy to an interaction.

How you ask or write open-ended vs. closed-ended questions comes down to a few simple adjustments to the words you choose to ask your question. 

To write a more open-ended question, think about where you want to lead the conversation and consider adjusting your opening words.

Open-ended questions often begin with words like this:

• Tell me about…

Closed-ended questions tend to start with words like this:

Closed-ended questions may not always lead to “yes” or “no” responses. Sometimes they can lead to short answers as well. For example:

Closed-ended: What’s your favorite color?

The answer to this question will likely be something short, like “blue.”

One simple way to turn this question into an open-ended question is not necessarily to dismiss the closed-ended question altogether, but to follow it up with an open-ended question as well. For example:

Open-ended: What’s your favorite color and why?

It should be noted that there is a time and place for closed-ended questions. They are not inherently “bad,” but they generally don’t work as well to keep conversations going. 

Example Open vs. Closed-Ended Questions

What are the Benefits of Open-Ended Questions?

Why are open-ended questions important? Some of the best conversations are generated from open-ended questions that lead people to open up and form deeper connections.

Here are some of the other benefits of open-ended questions:

• Bring energy to a conversation. By increasing likeability and simultaneously making others feel more confident, there’s a natural energy induced into the conversation!
• Reduce awkward silences. A close-ended question might cut a conversation short, but an open-ended question might keep it moving along. 
• Boost self-esteem. As people feel your interest in them with open-ended questions, they may get a confidence boost. Your interest makes them feel more interesting!
• Provide better feedback. Instead of a one-sided view, open-ended questions provide a clearer picture from various perspectives about a situation, ultimately allowing people to solve problems better and address issues.
• Encourage people to open up. Open-ended questions feel like permission to share feelings and ideas with others who are interested in hearing them.

Now that we understand what open-ended questions are and their benefits let’s dive into the best scenarios where we can use them with examples for each category.

110 Open-Ended Question Examples 

Open-ended questions for any social gathering.

Open-ended questions are great for any social situation, and we have lots of great question ideas to spark conversation with anyone . Here are a few to get you started!

• What are you looking forward to this week?
• Have any big vacations coming up?
• What do you love most about what you do?
• What cheers you up on a bad day?
• If you could have any five people at a dinner party, who would be there and why?
• Tell me about your family.
• What’s something people are usually surprised to learn about you?
• Tell me about the last TV show or movie you loved (or hated).
• What do you love most about where you live?
• Who’s been the most inspirational person in your life and why?

Open-Ended Questions for a Guy or Girl You’re Dating

If you want to get to know someone on a deeper level, using thoughtful, open-ended questions is a great way to get there. They’re also a great way to boost someone’s self-esteem by making you appear more engaged and interested in what they have to share. Here are a few open-ended questions to ask on a date!

• If money were no object, and you knew you could not fail, what would you do?
• What was the last thing that made you laugh to tears?
• What was your favorite thing to do growing up?
• When you were a child, where did you imagine you might be today?
• What activities make time feel like it’s flying by?
• How would you describe your perfect day?
• What are you most grateful for in this season of your life?
• What’s something you’re proud of doing in your life?
• What is your most treasured memory?
• If you could be famous for something, what would you want to be famous for doing?

For more dating icebreakers, try one of these 131 non-awkward ideas !

Open-Ended Questions for Networking Events

Networking events are classic places for open-ended questions and icebreakers with people you’re meeting for the first time. Want to avoid awkward silence? Use an open-ended question!

• What kind of people are you hoping to meet here today?
• What’s your background, and how did you get to where you are now?
• What’s the most exciting thing you’ve been working on lately?
• What’s this work season like for you?
• What kind of problems are you trying to solve these days?
• What kind of projects would you love to get into if you had more capacity?
• What are your goals for the next season?
• What’s something that inspires you when you’re having a rough day?
• What’s something you wish people knew about you?
• What’s been the biggest twist or surprise in your (career or personal) journey?

Open-Ended Questions for Job Interviews

Job interviews are a great place for both the interviewer and the interviewee to ask open-ended questions to help understand what each other is bringing to the table to inform better decision-making. 

Questions for interviewers :

• What’s your greatest professional achievement?
• How would your boss or coworkers describe you?
• What motivates you?
• How do you like to be managed?
• What’s something I should know about you that might not be on your resume?

Questions for interviewees :

• What do you enjoy about working at the company?
• What are your goals going into the next year?
• How do you see this role best helping you achieve your goals?
• What are your biggest opportunities going into next year?
• What are the top three qualities you’re looking for in this role?

Open-Ended Questions for Team Building Activities

Fostering strong team dynamics is essential for achieving success in any collaborative environment. These open-ended questions are designed to break the ice, deepen connections, and unlock the full potential of your team during team-building activities.

• What was the most memorable team activity you participated in and why?
• How do you like to contribute to a team project?
• What skills do you bring to the team that you’re most proud of?
• What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced as part of a team?
• How do you think we can improve our team’s collaboration?
• Describe a time when your team overcame a significant obstacle.
• What motivates you to work well with others?
• How do you handle conflicts within the team?
• What are your favorite ways to celebrate team successes?
• How can we better support each other’s growth and development in the team?

Open-Ended Questions for Feedback Meetings

Open-ended questions, when you give and receive feedback, are a great way to open up a conversation and understand where the other side is coming from more clearly. Here are some questions you can ask after a project is complete:

• What are the things that went right on our latest project?
• What was confusing about the last project?
• How did we fall short on the last project?
• What are our opportunities for growth?
• What is our biggest learning from this experience?
• How would we do this differently next time?
• Where were we working on our strengths? Our weaknesses?
• If we need to, how could we reorganize for a better outcome?
• What kind of support or resources do we need to improve next time?
• What are you looking forward to next time?

Pro Tip: Receiving feedback can be tough—and how you respond to it can make all the difference. Check out this goodie to learn more:

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Open-Ended Questions for Brainstorming Sessions

Open-ended questions used in brainstorming sessions are a great way to get people’s juices and ideas flowing as they begin to open up their imaginations. Here are a few questions to get you started in your next brainstorming session.

• What’s the best thing that can happen?
• If money were no object, and we knew we could not fail, what might we try to do?
• What’s the big problem we’re trying to solve?
• When you imagine success for this project, what do you see?
• What makes us unique in solving this problem?
• What can we learn from past mistakes and successes?
• What obstacles do we have to overcome?
• What opportunities or low-hanging fruit do we need to pay attention to?
• What are others doing to solve this problem? How are we different?
• In one year, what will matter most about what happens with this project?

Open-Ended Questions for Sales Conversations

Open-ended questions during a sales conversation help salespeople understand the needs of their customers and make them feel heard and understood. Here are some open-ended sales questions to put your potential customers at ease:

• Tell me about yourself and what you’re trying to accomplish.
• What is one of your biggest challenges?
• What are your goals?
• What are your opportunities for growth?
• What kind of resources/services are you using now?
• What do you wish the resources/services you had did better?
• What kind of resources/services do you wish you had?
• What kinds of things are you looking for in a product/service?
• What are your biggest priorities this season?
• What are your criteria to determine whether or not you will move forward with a product/service?

Open-Ended Questions for Leadership Development

Great leaders inspire, motivate, and guide their teams to achieve remarkable goals. These open-ended questions will help you uncover insights, identify strengths, and foster growth in your leadership journey.

• What do you think are the key qualities of a great leader?
• How do you handle conflict within your team?
• What has been your greatest leadership challenge and how did you overcome it?
• How do you motivate your team during tough times?
• What leadership skills are you working on improving?
• Can you describe a time when you had to make a difficult decision as a leader?
• How do you build trust within your team?
• What strategies do you use to inspire and engage your team members?
• How do you balance leading and listening within your team?
• What is your vision for the future of your team, and how do you plan to achieve it?

Open-Ended Questions for Surveys & Research

Open-ended questions are a great way for researchers in any industry to explore and expound upon their data, including some of the close-ended, quantitative responses. 

For example, a survey might say, “Would you recommend our services to a friend?” They might then ask an open-ended question like, “Tell us why you would recommend our services to a friend.” to explore the qualitative data behind the close-ended response.

Note that most of the questions below are written in the context of a product or service. However, survey questions vary by industry and purpose (e.g., scientists!). The most important thing to remember is to keep open-ended questions specific to your intention of providing qualitative data you can learn from.

• What do you like about this product/service?
• What would improve your experience?
• How would you describe the company/product/service to a friend?
• If you could change one thing about X, what would it be?
• What made you choose X over another product/service?
• What can we do to serve you better?
• What is the best feature of our product/service?
• If X wasn’t available, what would you do/use instead?
• Why did you decide to work with us vs. someone else?
• How do you use our product/service?

Open-Ended Questions for Counseling & Therapy Sessions

Open-ended questions are common for counselors or therapists to ask clients because they help them process their feelings and thoughts more clearly. Here are a few open-ended questions you might hear during therapy:

• What brings you here today?
• How does that make you feel?
• What have you done in the past to deal with this issue?
• How does it feel in your body?
• Tell me about a time you felt X as a child. What happened?
• What is your relationship like with your parents?
• What emotions do you feel as you talk about that?
• How did you feel when X happened?
• Tell me more about that…
• What do you want to do?

Open-Ended Questions for Medical Appointments

Open-ended medical questions 3 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8758184/ are helpful for those in healthcare 4 https://samples.jbpub.com/9781449652722/9781449645106_ch01_001_036.pdf to get a deeper understanding of the issues their patients might be experiencing. Here are some examples of open-ended questions from a doctor or nurse you might hear as a patient:

• What are your concerns?
• What questions do you have?
• How are you taking your medications?
• What symptoms are you experiencing?
• Describe what it feels like…
• What else is bothering you?
• What happened?
• What would you like me to address first?
• What are you afraid of?

Open-Ended Questions for Mentorship and Coaching

Mentorship and coaching are crucial if you want to have career success. Think of the most successful people you know, and chances are they’ve had a mentor (or two, or three…). Here are the best questions to ask any mentor.

• What are your long-term career goals and how are you planning to achieve them?
• What has been the most rewarding experience in your career so far?
• What obstacles are you currently facing and how can I help you overcome them?
• How do you define success for yourself?
• What new skills are you interested in learning?
• Can you describe a challenge you recently faced and how you dealt with it?
• What do you think are your greatest strengths and how can you leverage them more effectively?
• How do you stay motivated and focused on your goals?
• What feedback have you received that had the most impact on your personal or professional growth?
• How can I best support you in your development journey?

Open-Ended Questions for Conflict Resolution

If you’ve gotten into an argument recently, chances are you could’ve asked better questions. The next time you’re fired up, try shifting your tone and ask one of these questions:

• What are your main concerns regarding this issue?
• How do you feel about the current situation?
• What do you think is the root cause of this conflict?
• How can we work together to find a solution?
• What outcomes are you hoping for from this discussion?
• Describe a time when you successfully resolved a similar conflict.
• What do you think each party could do to improve the situation?
• How has this conflict affected your work or personal life?
• What steps do you think we should take to prevent similar conflicts in the future?
• How can we ensure that everyone’s needs are addressed moving forward?

Open-Ended Questions for Customer Feedback

Gathering detailed customer feedback is crucial for improving products and services. These open-ended questions will help you gain valuable insights into your customers’ experiences, needs, and expectations.

• What do you like most about our product/service?
• How can we improve your experience with our company?
• What other features or services would you like to see us offer?
• What problems are you hoping our product/service will solve?
• How do you feel about our customer service?
• What has been your most memorable experience with our product/service?
• How can we better meet your needs and expectations?
• What made you choose our product/service over others?
• Can you describe any challenges you’ve faced while using our product/service?
• What suggestions do you have for enhancing our product/service?

Open-Ended Questions for Conversations with Kids

Asking kids how their day is will often receive a short response. (Any parents out there relate?!) But if you can frame your questions to inspire them to share, you might be surprised by their openness (this goes for preschoolers all the way up to high schoolers!).

• What was the best part of your day?
• What are three things you’re grateful for today?
• If you could choose to have any superpower, what would it be and why?
• If you could time travel, where would you go and why?
• What do you love most about your friends?
• Tell me about your favorite teacher and why they’re special.
• What are you excited about doing this weekend?
• What’s something you wish you could do if you had the skills/strength/know-how?
• What do you think technology will be like in 100 years?
• If you could change something about how the world works, what would you change?

Open-Ended Questions FAQs

Employers and potential employers ask open-ended questions to give them a better understanding of who you are and what you’re capable of.  Open-ended questions during the interview process often provide an opportunity for the interviewee to share stories about how they solved problems, overcame obstacles, or succeeded in a specific project. They also provide answers that help employers better determine whether or not to hire someone.  Open-ended questions are also an excellent way for employers to understand the processes their current employees go through so they can provide better feedback.

Close-ended questions should be asked when you need a specific answer. An open-ended question should be asked when you’re interested in qualitative information or a better understanding of someone’s unique experience. In a survey, for example, you might want to ask a close-ended question for a data point that needs to be measured, like, “Do you recommend this product?” However, to understand someone’s unique experience, you might ask an open-ended question like, “Why don’t you recommend this product?”  In the context of social interaction, close-ended questions are OK when you’re looking for specific information: “When do you want to grab lunch?” However, you would ask an open-ended question to learn more about someone’s unique perspective: “What are your favorite lunch places in the neighborhood?”

Open-ended questions are a common tactic used by educators for inquiry-based learning 5 https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/38355914/Inquiry-Based-Learning-A-Review-of-the-Research-Literature-libre.pdf?1438472393=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DINQUIRY_BASED_LEARNING_LITERATURE_REVIEW.pdf&Expires=1676601224&Signature=hFKNPTf9w6x9MK2vtolCLyxTEPrToKIUbngjfUcMD1k0ysfIxdCO9e17W7fq05xuxg7PchrnhN~Hj-e1xtQLukITO8vOIdyjFixsxXJGUvbLnC5hYDLAgj57m9KnCIrtPDrmUayHcosQHKW444ZHeFyjKx5l37wdMQ13gTWL8sE68~52fGwIJjbmPceD8qriRRKhU~-~UzVU7-8KLQC-7b~qCYR0wFNnVo2-Gc8IVxZQKyyrh8RM30XENLItoxyWt2wsP2HQTSxd7Jp5YugB7qNVlEOLWxZUSzAdQxDbfJ3rxHk2I3B8XttrQ2fKvUXOrGNtBO~rxMCLc6pPbWMO9A__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA . This method is used because open-ended questions often inspire greater curiosity and problem-solving. For example, rather than telling a student what to think, they are thoughtfully guided with open-ended questions to explore solutions to problems. 

Open-Ended Questions Key Takeaways

In summary, remember these benefits of open-ended questions.

• Reduce awkward silences. A close-ended question might cut a conversation short, but an open-ended question keeps it moving along. 
• Boost self-esteem. As people feel your interest in them with open-ended questions, they may get a confidence boost. Your interest makes them feel more interested!
• Provide better feedback. Instead of a one-sided view, open-ended questions provide a clearer picture from various perspectives, ultimately allowing people to solve and address problems better.
• Encourage people to open up. Open-ended questions feel like permission to share feelings and ideas with others interested in hearing them.

For more conversation-starter ideas, check out our article for 57 killer conversation-starters to start a conversation with anyone.

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Open-ended vs. closed-ended questions in survey

Discover the power of open-ended vs. closed-ended questions in research. Learn how each type influences insights, efficiency, and data collection

Open-Ended vs. Closed-Ended Questions

Do you ever feel like stakeholders undervalue your organization's impactful programs?  Clearly communicating program success can be a challenge, leading to a disconnect and funding difficulties. This article tackles a critical tool for success: the art of crafting the right questions .

Well-designed questions, whether open-ended or closed-ended , are the foundation for effectively communicating your program's impact to stakeholders. Open-ended questions can capture the voices and experiences of stakeholders, while closed-ended questions provide valuable data for quantifying program effectiveness. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, you can design surveys that:

• Capture stakeholder voices:  Learn what matters most to your stakeholders and how your programs are affecting them.
• Demonstrate program effectiveness:  Gather data that clearly shows the positive changes your programs are creating.
• Secure stakeholder support:  Tell a compelling story about your program's impact that resonates with stakeholders and motivates them to lend their support.

This article will guide you through the power of question design, helping you choose the right approach to unlock stakeholder impact and secure the funding you deserve.

Defining Open-Ended and Closed-Ended Questions

Open-ended questions allow respondents to provide unrestricted, qualitative responses in their own words. These questions typically begin with phrases like "how," "what," or "why," encouraging respondents to express their thoughts, feelings, and opinions freely. Examples of open-ended questions include "What factors influenced your decision?" or "How do you feel about this product?"

On the other hand, closed-ended questions offer respondents a set of predetermined response options to choose from. These questions often require a simple "yes" or "no" answer or ask respondents to select from a list of predefined options. Closed-ended questions are designed to elicit specific, quantitative responses and are often used to gather structured data efficiently. Examples of closed-ended questions include "Did you purchase this product?" or "Which of the following options best describes your experience?"

Advantages of Open-Ended Questions

One of the primary advantages of open-ended questions is their ability to capture rich, detailed responses. By allowing respondents to elaborate on their thoughts and experiences, open-ended questions provide researchers with a deeper understanding of complex issues. These responses can reveal unexpected insights, uncovering nuances that closed-ended questions may overlook.

Moreover, open-ended questions empower respondents to express themselves in their own words, fostering a sense of ownership and authenticity in their responses. This approach can lead to more honest and insightful feedback, as respondents feel valued and heard throughout the research process.

Additionally, open-ended questions are versatile and adaptable to various research contexts. They can be used to explore a wide range of topics and are particularly well-suited for exploratory research, hypothesis generation, and qualitative data analysis. Researchers can gain valuable insights into respondents' perspectives, attitudes, and behaviors, providing a holistic view of the subject under study.

Advantages of Closed-Ended Questions

Closed-ended questions offer several advantages, particularly in terms of data collection efficiency and analysis. By providing predefined response options, these questions enable researchers to gather standardized data quickly and easily. This structured approach streamlines the data collection process, allowing researchers to collect large volumes of data efficiently.

Moreover, closed-ended questions facilitate quantitative analysis, as the responses can be easily categorized and quantified. Researchers can use statistical techniques to analyze and interpret the data, identifying patterns, trends, and correlations with precision. This quantitative approach is particularly valuable for making data-driven decisions, evaluating hypotheses, and measuring the effectiveness of interventions or treatments.

Additionally, closed-ended questions minimize respondent burden by providing clear and concise response options. Respondents can answer these questions quickly, reducing survey fatigue and improving overall response rates. This efficiency is especially beneficial in large-scale research studies or surveys conducted in time-sensitive environments.

Choosing the Right Approach

While both open-ended and closed-ended questions offer distinct advantages, choosing the right approach depends on the research objectives, context, and target audience. In many cases, a combination of both types of questions may be most effective, allowing researchers to gather comprehensive data while balancing the need for depth and efficiency.

For exploratory research or when seeking in-depth insights into complex phenomena, open-ended questions are invaluable. They encourage respondents to share their perspectives openly, uncovering nuanced details and diverse viewpoints. Researchers can use qualitative analysis techniques, such as thematic coding or content analysis, to identify patterns and themes within the data, enriching their understanding of the subject matter.

In contrast, closed-ended questions are well-suited for research scenarios that require standardized data collection and quantitative analysis. They enable researchers to measure attitudes, behaviors, and preferences systematically, facilitating comparisons across groups or time periods. Statistical analysis techniques, such as descriptive statistics or inferential tests, can be applied to closed-ended data to draw meaningful conclusions and make evidence-based recommendations.

Difference between open and closed ended questions

Open-ended and closed-ended questions are two fundamental types of questions used in surveys, interviews, and research studies. Each type has its own strengths and weaknesses, and the choice between them depends on the goals of the data collection process.

Open-Ended Questions in Surveys

Open-ended questions are a cornerstone of qualitative research, providing a window into the deeper thoughts, feelings, and motivations of respondents. They are particularly effective when you need nuanced insights or varied perspectives that structured data cannot capture. To craft effective open-ended questions:

Focus on the Specific : Tailor questions to gather specific information that aligns with the research objectives. For instance, instead of asking "What do you think about our product?" refine it to "What specific features do you like most about our product, and why?"

invite detailed and descriptive answers. Consider using phrases such as "describe in detail," "explain how," or "what led you to," which guide respondents to delve deeper into their experiences and reasoning. This approach not only enriches the data but also brings forth the nuances of personal narratives and insights.

Equally crucial is the formulation of questions that remain neutral, avoiding any language that might steer respondents toward a specific answer. This practice is fundamental to preserving the objectivity of the data collected, ensuring that the insights gained are a genuine reflection of the respondent's thoughts and not influenced by the wording of the question.

Moreover, a well-designed survey question should accommodate a spectrum of perspectives. By framing questions broadly enough, researchers can capture a diverse array of responses, thereby reflecting the varied experiences and opinions of all participants. This inclusivity enriches the data set and provides a more comprehensive understanding of the surveyed group.

In gathering open-ended responses, the goal is to create a platform where each voice and experience can articulate itself freely and distinctly. This approach not only respects the diversity of the respondent pool but also enhances the depth and breadth of the insights gained from the research.

Before launching a survey broadly, it’s crucial to test the open-ended questions with a smaller, representative group. This preliminary phase aims to ensure that the questions effectively elicit the type of responses anticipated. Observing how these respondents interact with the questions provides invaluable insights, allowing for adjustments and refinements to the survey based on actual feedback. This iterative process helps fine-tune the questions to better capture the depth and variety of data needed.

To streamline and enhance this process, employing a modern qualitative data analytics platform like Sopact Sense can be transformative. Sopact Sense dramatically reduces the time and effort traditionally required for data analysis, condensing months of work into mere minutes. With its advanced capabilities, it offers 30 times better accuracy, facilitating both inductive and deductive analysis approaches. Researchers can utilize bottom-up pattern analysis to identify emerging themes without prior assumptions, or apply top-down strategies to test specific hypotheses or code responses post-collection.

Furthermore, Sopact Sense enables detailed demographic filtering, empowering researchers to dissect data layers and uncover genuine causality and correlations. This capability is particularly valuable in understanding how different groups perceive and respond to various issues, enhancing the overall quality and applicability of the research outcomes. By integrating such advanced tools into the survey design and testing phase, researchers can achieve a more dynamic, responsive, and precise exploration of the data they collect.

To ensure that analytics efforts align closely with key organizational goals and foster actionable outcomes at an individual stakeholder level, it’s essential to craft a narrative that integrates both qualitative and quantitative data. This approach allows for a comprehensive understanding of how initiatives are impacting stakeholders, highlighting necessary adjustments and future strategies.

Creating a Comprehensive Narrative:

• Identify and Prioritize Goals: Start by clearly identifying the most crucial goals for the analytics project. Determine what success looks like for each goal and how it aligns with broader organizational objectives.
• Collect Qualitative and Quantitative Data: Use a mixed-methods approach to data collection. Qualitative data can be gathered through open-ended survey questions, interviews, and focus groups that explore stakeholders' feelings, experiences, and suggestions for improvement. Quantitative data should be collected through structured surveys, performance metrics, and other measurable indicators.
• Pre and Post Analysis: If applicable, conduct a pre-intervention analysis to establish a baseline, followed by a post-intervention analysis to measure changes. This comparative analysis can highlight the direct impacts of specific changes and help in communicating these changes effectively.
• Narrate the Story of Each Goal: For each key goal, create a narrative that weaves together the qualitative insights with the quantitative results. This story should outline what was initially found, what changes were implemented, and how these changes influenced the outcomes. Emphasize both the successes and the areas needing improvement.
• Detail Actionable Insights: Based on the narrative, extract actionable insights specific to each stakeholder group. Detail what steps will be taken to address the issues uncovered in the analysis. This might include strategic adjustments, resource reallocations, or new initiatives.
• Communicate Changes and Impact: Use the narratives to communicate with stakeholders about the changes made and their impacts. This communication should be clear and tailored to the audience, ensuring that each stakeholder understands how the findings relate to them and what future actions are planned.
• Plan for Continuous Improvement: Establish a plan for ongoing monitoring and evaluation based on the narrative outcomes. This plan should include regular check-ins and updates to the data collection and analysis processes to ensure they remain aligned with the organization's evolving needs and goals.

By meticulously linking each story to the most important analytics goals and utilizing a narrative that blends qualitative depth with quantitative rigor, organizations can not only achieve a more thorough understanding of their impact but also engage stakeholders in a meaningful way that promotes sustained improvement and strategic decision-making.

Closed-Ended Questions in Surveys

Creating closed-ended questions for surveys involves a meticulous design process to ensure that the quantitative data collected is accurate, clear, and meaningful. These types of questions are pivotal for confirming hypotheses, measuring trends, and obtaining data that are straightforward to analyze statistically. Here’s how to enhance the effectiveness of closed-ended questions in your surveys:

1. Define Clear Options

To begin, it’s crucial that each closed-ended question provides specific, mutually exclusive categories. This step is essential to cover all possible responses, thus eliminating any potential ambiguity or overlap. For example, if you're asking about frequency of service usage, your options should range clearly from 'Never' to 'Daily' without any vague terms in between. This clarity ensures that the data you collect can be analyzed straightforwardly, leading to more reliable insights.

2. Balance the Scales

Using balanced rating scales, such as Likert scales, can significantly enhance the quality of the data gathered. These scales should offer an equal number of options on either side of a neutral option (if one is included) to ensure an unbiased distribution of responses. For instance, a satisfaction survey might use a scale from 'Very Dissatisfied' to 'Very Satisfied' with 'Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied' as a midpoint. This balance helps in minimizing response biases, providing a more accurate picture of respondent sentiments.

3. Keep It Simple

Each question should be formulated to be as clear and straightforward as possible. The language used needs to be simple enough that respondents do not require additional information or context to give an answer. This approach reduces the risk of misinterpretation and ensures that responses are based on the respondents’ true opinions and experiences. An example might be using "Do you agree that the customer service was helpful?" instead of a more complex phrasing that could confuse the respondent.

4. Include an 'Other' Option

Sometimes, even well-designed questions might not capture all possible respondent experiences. In such cases, including an 'Other' option with a space for respondents to specify their answer can be invaluable. This option acts as a safety net, capturing data that might otherwise be missed and offering insights that could lead to new discoveries or considerations in your analysis.

5. Pre-test Your Questions

Before deploying the survey to a larger audience, conduct a pre-test with a small, representative group. This testing helps ensure that the questions are understood as intended and that all potential responses are adequately covered. Gather feedback on the clarity of the questions and the adequacy of the response options. Use this feedback to make necessary adjustments, refining your survey to better meet its objectives.

Putting It All Together

When these elements are carefully integrated into the design of closed-ended questions, the resulting data becomes a powerful tool for statistical analysis and decision-making. These questions not only streamline the data collection process but also enhance the precision and applicability of the insights gained. By rigorously crafting and testing your closed-ended questions, you ensure that the survey effectively measures the intended variables and yields high-quality data that can support robust conclusions and strategic actions.

Open and Closed-Ended Questions in Survey Design

Incorporating both open and closed-ended questions in surveys can significantly enhance the data collection process by melding the depth of qualitative feedback with the quantitative data's scope. This dual approach proves invaluable in multifaceted research areas, where understanding the underlying reasons behind behaviors, decisions, or preferences is key.

Sequential Integration : Begin with closed-ended questions to collect broad data, then follow up with open-ended questions to delve into specific areas of interest more deeply. This technique helps provide a contextual backdrop for the quantitative findings through rich qualitative insights.

Parallel Integration : Simultaneously employ open and closed-ended questions regarding the same subject within a survey. This strategy captures a wide array of data, offering both statistical comprehensiveness and insightful qualitative depth.

Iterative Design : Utilize initial survey responses to refine or introduce new questions that probe deeper into significant themes that arise. This responsive design allows the survey to evolve based on real-time insights, making it highly adaptive to the research needs.

By strategically combining these approaches, researchers can leverage the strengths of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, resulting in more rounded and actionable data.

For more detailed strategies on mixed-method surveys, refer to the guide provided by Sopact. Learn more about mixed-method surveys at Sopact .

In conclusion, the choice between open-ended and closed-ended questions is a critical consideration in research design and data collection. Each type of question offers unique advantages and limitations, influencing the depth, efficiency, and quality of insights obtained. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches and selecting the most appropriate method for each research context, researchers can maximize the value of their findings and generate meaningful contributions to their field.

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Open-ended Questions Vs. Closed-ended Questions In User Research

Simbar Dube

So you have decided to conduct a usability test for your product —so as to understand your product from the users’ perspective. You then realize that you have to come up with relevant questions to ask participants.

“ That sounds like a piece of cake ,” some may presume. 

Writing effective usability questions seems deceptively easy, but the harsh reality is it’s not as simple as you may think it is. There are quite a number of mistakes to avoid . 

How you phrase your questions will directly impact the quality and value of your user testing results. Ask your participants the wrong questions, or use the wrong words to structure the questions, and you will gather incorrect feedback. Wrong questions can contaminate the whole research —leading to misleading quantitative data and qualitative data.

Before you come up with any usability questions, there is a great need for creative thinking, which involves answering the question – what you intend to learn from the test. Begin by asking yourself this: what information do I need from this research ? 

Taking time to answer that question will help you narrow down all the possible wrong directions you might head before getting to the qualitative data or quantitative data you need. The ultimate goal could be as simple as finding out if users will click on your search result listing. 

When you have a clearly defined goal, writing usability questions isn’t a task that is hard to do.

By default, your usability questions could either be open-ended questions or close-ended questions.

Whenever we conduct any user research at Invesp, our conversations with our participants have a natural rhythm.

We ensure this by using open-ended questions and closed-ended questions in unison.

This article will explore open-ended questions and close-ended questions in great detail, focusing on how to write them and when to use them. 

What are open-ended questions? 

An open-ended question is what it is: a question that is open to any answer. In the context of user research, open-ended questions are questions that do not limit users to one- or two-word answers. Instead, they have multiple potential responses, and they often give room for further probing by the moderator.  

Open-ended questions are versatile in nature, and they prompt users to describe their feelings and thoughts in their own voice. In this regard, the Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google, Avinash Kaushik , says:

The greatest nuggets of insights are in open ended questions because it is the Voice of the Customer speaking directly to you (not cookies and shopper_ids but customers).

There is something about asking open-ended questions that makes participants feel more comfortable during a usability test . People, in general, tend to open up and express themselves better when they are given room to answer in their own words.

For example, rather than asking, “Was the new feature easy to use?” You can try something like, “How would you describe your experience of using the new feature?”

The most common response to the first question would have been, “ Yes, it was ” or “ No, it wasn’t ” and there was no way you could have understood the context behind the user’s response. But the second question allows users to respond freely, and there is a high chance of getting unique answers that you might not have anticipated.

Open-ended questions are ideal for starting and holding a conversation in any circle. They empower users, giving them 100% control of what they intend to say —and this is something that cannot be done using closed-ended questions.

Tips for writing effective open-ended questions.

Coming up with the right kind of questions requires practice. There’s an art to asking questions that prompts people to think before giving a response. Unless it’s an open-ended question, not every question you ask your users will motivate them to give a detailed answer. Here are a few tips that will help you write effective open-ended questions. 

1. Begin your question with how, why, and what

What makes a question open-ended is the wording of the sentence. For an effective open-ended question, start the question with words such as how, what, why, and can. This way, you give your users freedom to say more, and in the process, there is a possibility of uncovering rich insights. 

Avoid using more specific words such as did, would, which, when and was —these usually prompt one-worded answers.

For example, a question like “ Which part of your experience was unsatisfactory ?” does not evoke users to give in-depth details about what they found unsatisfactory with the application. Instead, you can elicit users to reflect on their experience and give a more insightful response if you ask it this way “ What challenges did you face during your experience with XYZ ?”.

Here are a couple more examples of how to attain a more precise answer by changing the wording of your question:

2. Clarity and Analysis

Ensure that your question requires users to be analytical and to clarify their points. One defining trait of an open-ended question is its ability to propel users to put more thought to their responses. 

Analytical questions do not require users to generalize their answers. For instance, in a Conversion Optimization research, you might ask your participants these questions:

• What is the significance of a certain element in a website?  
• How important is the new feature on the site?
• Why did you choose to use this service/product?

All these three questions are different, but they all have one thing in common: they would require participants to be clear and describe their answers in more detail.

By motivating users to give clarity in their responses, open-ended questions can also be used as a way of motivating their participants to verify their answers, especially when your previous question was closed-ended.

Suppose you ask this close-ended question: “Did you find the product you were looking for?” you can then verify the given answer by asking this follow-up open-ended question: “Why were you looking for that product?”

3. Avoiding leading participants into a certain answer 

In any research approach, open-ended questions are asked so as to elicit valuable insights from users, not to confirm the moderator’s existing beliefs. So, if your questioning subtly prompts users to answer in a certain way or gives hints at the expected answer, then you need to revise the phrasing of your questions. 

The wording of the question shouldn’t be suggestive of any answers to the participants as this biases the users into giving a predetermined answer. 

Let’s say you ask this question: “ Which feature made you visit our site ?” 

The problem with this question is that already suggests an answer for the users. It implies that it’s a feature that made users visit the site. Come to think of it, what if it wasn’t a feature but a service that lured the users to the site? 

Examples Of Open-Ended Questions.

You can use these sample questions as conversation starters and to also make your participant explain more.

1. How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with this process?

2. What would (did) you expect to happen when you … ?

3. Did you find it?

4. How would this fit into your work?

5. How might this change the way you do that today?

6. What do you think about that?

7. What kinds of questions or difficulties have you had when doing this in the past?

8. What happened when you did this before?

9. Please describe your level of experience with …

10. What’s most confusing or annoying about … ?

11. What worked well for you?

12. How do you know … ?

13. How do you normally … ?

14. What just happened?

15. What was that?

16. What would you most want to change about … ?

17. Which things did you like the best about … ?

18. What were you expecting?

How Do You Ask Open-Ended Questions In UX Research?

Open-ended questions in UX research are used to gather qualitative data and gain insights into users’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. 

These types of questions allow participants to provide detailed and unstructured responses rather than simply choosing from a set of pre-determined options.

To ask open-ended questions in UX research, you can use prompts such as:

• “Can you tell me about a time when you used a similar product or service?”
• “What do you like/dislike about the current design?”
• “How would you describe your experience using this feature?”
• “What would you change about this feature if you could?”
• “Can you walk me through your thought process as you complete this task?”

When asking open-ended questions, it is important to create a comfortable and non-threatening environment for participants and to listen and probe actively for more information as needed. Additionally, it is important to avoid leading questions and to keep the question open-ended to gather unbiased answers.

When To Use Open-Ended Questions.

In some situations, the only way to get valuable insights is to give respondents some sense of control over the conversation by allowing them to answer in their own words. There is a high chance of bumping into something completely unique and valuable if you allow users to have the freedom to express themselves.

1. In sales 

SalesHacker made an interesting observation about interactive discussions prompted by open ended questions: when you have a conversation with your potential customers, and they talk for at least 30% of the time, your conversion sales will likely increase. But if they talk for less than 30% of the time, your sales conversion rates will drop. 

With open-ended questions, you are not only guaranteed an increase in sales, but they can also help you: 

•  Explore the needs of your customers. 
•  Provide you with a better idea of what your customers think about your product.
•  Foresee and minimize risks.
•  Trigger a meaningful and insightful conversation with your customers.
•  Discover new opportunities. 
• They can play a significant role in building a good rapport with your customers. 

However, not all open-ended questions are good. In an article written by Business 2 Community, they gave examples of some of the “ bad open-ended questions ” that won’t work well in sales: 

• How much are you willing to spend? 
• What is your worst pain?
• What kind of goods or services are you ready to pay for
• What don’t you like about our service? 
• What don’t you like about our service?

2. Open-ended questions in conversion optimization research

The essence of an effective CRO program is not only based on getting tactics right and testing this and that, but it’s also about knowing the mindset of your customers. You first have to see your product or service from the customer’s lens to deliver a product or the services they desire. 

One way of getting into the customer’s head is by asking open-ended questions.

In this regard, JeremySaid put out a handy list of questions you can ask your current customers when you intend to increase your conversion rate. Here are some of the open-ended questions they recommended: 

• How was your overall experience? 
• Why are you here today? 
• What about this product/service struck out to you? 
• What do you know about our company? 
• What would you like to know about our company? 
• What problems have you experienced in the past with similar products? 
• What would you like to see us do more online?  

The more you let your customers feel comfortable, the more they will reveal what drove them to consider purchasing your product. So, whether you are conducting a usability test, focus group, customer interviews, or surveys , keep your customers TALKİNG and use the information to your advantage. And the best way of doing this is by opening up the conversation. 

What Are Closed-Ended Questions (With Examples)

If you can imagine a question restricting  participants to a set of predefined answers , then that’s a close-ended question. It aims to get precise and clear-cut answers — without leaving any room for users to express themselves.

According to Wikipedia : 

A close ended question refers to any question for which a researcher provides research participants with options from which to choose a response. Close ended questions are sometimes phrased as a statement which requires a response. A close ended question contrasts with an open ended question, which cannot easily be answered with specific information .

Asking closed-ended questions will give you specific answers, aka quantitative data. Do they want to purchase your product? Are they shopping around with your competitors for the same service? The answers are simple and direct.

Although close-ended questions provide limited insights, that doesn’t make them any less important. In most cases, close-ended questions are used in a quantitative research approach where insights gathered are numerical. 

Close-ended questions have their place in user research, and they are wonderfully effective in guiding participants into giving certain answers. 

For example, you conduct a usability test to determine if your app store listing will convert well. So you ask your participants this question: 

Which of the following pieces of information made you download this app on the Play Store?  

• Screenshots 
• Customer reviews 

From this example above, the question eliminates any element of surprise by setting boundaries for the participants’ responses. Participants are not expected to give an answer outside the set of predefined responses. 

So, if close-ended questions do not require participants to express themselves, then isn’t that a disadvantage? Well, it is. Respondents are biased into responding in a certain way. But sometimes, it’s necessary to use these types of questions in user research as they make it easier and quicker for respondents to answer . 

Although close-ended questions have different forms, they all have this in common: they are similar in the kind of answer they draw out from the respondents — clear-cut answers.

Specific questions

Specific questions are precise, clearly defined and they leave no room as to the intended meaning. At times, they come as multiple-choice questions that consist of two sections: (1) the stem which is the question itself and (2) a list of response alternatives, choices or answers that respondents will have to select an answer from. 

Example :  Suppose you want to evaluate your marketing channels and find out which platform is your brand more visible in. So you ask your participants: 

How did you first learn about our product/website? 

As alternative responses to the question, you can give these to your participants: 

Among all kinds of questions,  specific or multiple-choice questions are considered to be the most versatile type of questions.  In user research, you can use specific questions to discover facts or to gain an understanding of user behavior.  

Implicit questions

If anything is said to be implicit, then it means that it is not directly pointed out, but it is somehow suggested in the statement. So, an implicit statement is as an expression that prompts a certain reaction .   

With that said, what then is an implicit question ? 

  An implicit question can be defined as a leading question that gives hints about the type of answer needed. Think of them as leading questions , that pushes participants to respond in a specific manner.  

Example :  If you ask users this question: How many times do you visit our website ? 

Using “ how many times” in the above question implies that the participants have visited the website before. There is an element of conjecture and assumptions and in this case, participants are persuaded to give a numerical answer. 

If the question was to be phrased as a direct question, it would have been: 

Have you ever visited our website? 

This second question doesn’t influence the participants’ responses —and this means that the question doesn’t cultivate any biases in respondents. 

Tips For Writing Effective Close-Ended Questions

Close-ended questions should not always be thought of as simple questions that anyone can easily answer merely because they do not require a detailed answer.  

1. Begin sentences with Where, Which, When, Did 

To make a question a close-ended, there is a certain way you should phrase it. In his book Conversationally Speaking , Alan Garner suggests that you use these few words to begin close-ended questions:

Using these words, here’s a list of some examples of close-ended questions you can use: 

• Are you happy with your experience when using our site? 
• Would you recommend our product/service? 
• What challenges did you face when you were using this website?  
• Which elements on our mobile applications were easy to use? 

None of these closed-ended questions prompt participants to give detailed answers. They all can be answered with a one-word answer , as they aim to find out the ‘ what’ and not the ‘why’ . 

2. Be clear and simple 

Needless to say, when you ask a clear and simple question, you allow the possibility of a clear-cut answer. So the starting point is to remove extra verbiage that may end up distracting or confusing the respondents. 

Good example : Would you recommend our website ? 

Bad example : You have used the website for more than 10 minutes and you have visited all the pages and clicked on all, so does it mean that you will recommend our website to other people? 

Once you frustrate users with wordy questions, you risk compromising the value of your feedback. Here’s a list of clear and simple close-ended questions : 

• Did you experience good customer service? 
• Would you consider using our product or service again? 
• Did you like our product or service? 
• What product or service were you looking for today? 
• Are you happy with your experience with us? 
• Did you find what you were looking for today?   

Having clear and simple close ended questions won’t just make it easy for users to infer the intended meaning, but you, as a moderator, will understand the given answers without any hassles. 

3. Relevant answer choices 

If you intend to use multiple-choice questions, then make sure that your suggested answers are plausible. Participants usually have different experiences even after using the same product, so you should have several alternative answers that best describe answers. 

Use at least four alternatives in each multiple-choice question so as to give users a variety of alternatives.  

When to use close-ended questions.

Generally, an online poll can have close-ended questions and open-ended questions as long as they require short feedback. But to give users a simple experience, you can use close-ended questions as they are easy to answer and do not require a detailed answer.  Since they require limited answers, Susan Farrell from Nielsen Norman Group  says this: 

Closed ended questions are often good for surveys , because you get higher response rates when users don’t have to type so much. Also, answers to closed ended questions can easily be analyzed statistically, which is what you usually want to do with survey data.

Here’s an example of one of the close-ended questions we use on the FigPii polls. The question asked users the reason for their visit on the site and it allowed them to select one answer from four alternatives. 

Such close-ended questions which have multiple-choice forms have higher completion rates as users do not have to come up with their own responses. Although the answers given provide a general sentiment of insights, you can always follow up with an open-ended question so as to see things from the users’ perspectives. 

For instance, you can ask users to further elaborate on their answers by asking this as a follow-up:

What is the most important feature of our product/service for you ? This way you can understand the context behind the users’ decisions. 

Considering that they don’t demand much explanation from the respondents, close ended are perfect in quantitative usability research where you’d need to measure usability metrics such as task completion rates, error rates, and post-task satisfaction. 

Insights gained using close ended questions allow researchers to categorize respondents based on the answers they have selected. How so? 

Let’s say you have an online store, and you need to know the demographics of people who visit(ed) your site and left without completing a purchase. To decipher this demographic information, you can conduct an online survey that asks these close ended questions: 

Question 1: Can you please specify your gender?

Question 2: You are in which age group? 

• 18-24 years 
• 25-34 years
• 35-44 years
• 45-54 years
• 55-64 years

Question 3: What is your annual income range?

This knowledge would help you target the right kind of marketing campaign to the exact customers you’d want to attract. 

Similarly, the Nielsen Norman Group gave this list that indicates when to use close ended questions. Here are the situations where you should use this type of questions: 

• In quantitative usability studies, where you are measuring time on task and error rates, and you need to compare results among users
• In surveys where you expect many (1000+), respondents
• When collecting data that must be measured carefully over time, for example with repeated (identical) research efforts
• When the set of possible answers is strictly limited for some reason
• After you have done enough qualitative research that you have excellent multiple-choice questions that cover most of the cases. 

Final Thoughts

Whenever you hear any CRO consultant or agency saying that they will fish out all the ‘ barriers that inhibit conversion’ on your site, all they mean is that they will ask relevant questions until they achieve better results. 

In this CRO business, assumptions can ruin what might have been a good relation with your customers. Foster the culture of asking questions, after all, the source of valuable knowledge is attained through asking questions. 

So, whether it’s open-ended or closed-ended you decide to use, make sure you can answer Yes to the following questions before coming up with any questions: 

• Do your participants have relevant prior knowledge needed to respond to your questions?
• Does your question address one of the important aspects that your users may have experienced during the course of the research? 
• Is your question clearly outlined, using the appropriate language that can be easily interpreted by your customers/users? 
• Are your questions grammatically correct? 

Additional Resources

1. Open ended questions and close ended questions: What they are, and how they affect user research.

2 . 6 DTC ecommerce websites with killer value proposition.

3. 11 customer service psychology secrets that go down the funnel, not the drain.

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Home Surveys Question Types

Open-Ended Questions: Examples & Advantages

When designing surveys , we often need to describe whether to use open-ended questions versus closed-ended questions to get specific information. Yet we need to be aware that open-ended and closed-ended questions have their strengths and weaknesses and perform in different ways.

Open-ended are those questions that a sender makes to encourage one or several receivers to obtain some information in response. For example: Where is my wallet?

LEARN ABOUT: Testimonial Questions

Open-Ended Questions: Definition

Open-ended questions are free-form survey questions that allow and encourage respondents to answer in open-text format to answer based on their complete knowledge, feeling, and understanding. The detailed response to this question is not limited to a set of options.

Unlike a closed-ended question that leaves survey responses limited and narrow to the given options, an open-ended question allows you to probe deep into the respondent’s detailed answers, gaining valuable information about the subject or project. The responses to these qualitative research questions can be used to attain detailed and descriptive information on a subject.

LEARN ABOUT: course evaluation survey examples

They are an integral part of Qualitative Market Research . This research process depends heavily on open and subjective questions and answers on a given topic of discussion or conversation, with room for further probing by the researcher based on the answer given by the respondent. In a typical scenario, closed-ended questions are used to gather qualitative data from respondents.

Learn  more: Qualitative Research- Definition, Types, Methods and Examples

Examples of Open-Ended Questions

Respondents like open-ended questions as they get 100% control over what they want to respond to, and they don’t feel restricted by the limited number of options. The beauty of the process is that there can never be a one-word answer. They’ll either be in the form of lists, sentences or something longer like speech/paragraph.

So, to understand this more, here are some open-ended question examples:

• Interview method : How do you plan to use your existing skills to improve organizational growth, if hired by the company?
• Customer-facing: Please describe a scenario where our online marketplace helps a person make day-to-day purchases in daily life.
• Technical: Can you please explain the back-end Javascript code template used for this webpage or blog post?
• Demographic: What is your age? (asked without survey options)
• Personal / Psychographic: How do you typically deal with stress and anxiety in your life?

In a study conducted by Pew Research, respondents were asked, “What mattered most to you while deciding how you voted for president?” One group was asked this question in a close-ended question format, while the other was asked in an open-ended one. The results are displayed below:

In the close-ended questions format, 58% of respondents chose “The economy”. In the other format, only 35% wrote an answer that indicated “The economy.” Note that only 8% of respondents selected “Other” in the format of the close-ended question. With an open-ended format, 43% of respondents wrote in a response that would have been categorized as “Other.”

Open-Ended Questions vs Close Ended Questions

Open-ended questions motivate the respondents to put their feedback into words without restricting people’s thoughts. They aren’t as objective and dominant as close-ended questions.

By using these leading questions, the researcher understands the respondents’ true feelings. They have an element that will give you information about different thought processes across your clientele, troubleshooting suggestions, and getting a peek into their inhibitions too.

• The open-ended and closed-ended questions are different tasks for respondents. In the open-ended task, respondents write down what is readily available in their minds. In the close-ended question task, respondents focus their “attention on specific responses chosen by the investigator” (Converse and Presser, 1986).
• Asking the same question in these two different formats will almost always produce different results. Many investigators have demonstrated this over several decades.
• Few respondents are going to select the “Other” category and enter responses that are different from the answer choices that are listed.

So what does this mean for us? If you can, do qualitative research first and ensure your close-ended questions represent the items in people’s heads. We need the list of items to be complete since few respondents will select the “Other” category. It may also be necessary to list items not readily available to respondents if they are important to you.

LEARN ABOUT: Survey Sample Sizes

When presenting results , I have found it helpful to explain the fundamental differences between open-ended and closed-ended question examples in a sentence or two. It helps them understand that these are not necessarily precise measurements but measurements that require some interpretation relative to other questions in the survey and additional information from steps in qualitative research . Hence, that is why they need an analyst like you or me!

Why Use Open-Ended Questions?

Unrestricted opinions:.

The customers need a platform to voice their opinions without limits on the answers. Happy or unhappy. As answer options for questions aren’t provided, the respondent has the liberty to include details about good life, feelings, attitudes, and views that they usually wouldn’t get to submit in single word answers.

Creative Expression:

These questions are more appreciative of the respondents than close-ended questions as users aren’t expected to just “fill” them out for the sake of it.

Spellbinding Vision and Creativity:

Respondents may stun you with the vision and creativity they show with their more detailed answers. Links to their blogs or a verse or two of their poetry will leave you spellbound.

Embracing Freedom of Response:

If there are only close-ended questions in a microsurvey, the users usually get disconnected and fill it out without giving it much thought. With the kind of freedom that open-ended questions offer, users can respond the way they’d like to, be it the number of words or the details or the tone of the message.

LEARN ABOUT: Send Surveys Using Text Message

Driving Marketing and Innovation:

These responses may be marketing tips for improving the organization’s branding or some creative ideas that can lead to monetary gains in future.

Tackling Complexity:

Knotty situations need more than just a mere Yes/No feedback. Single-select or multiple choice questions cannot do justice to the detail process or scrutiny required for some critical and complex situations.

Exploring Feedback and Troubles:

These questions work best in situations where the respondents are expected to explain their feedback or describe the troubles they’re facing with the products.

Unveiling Customer Insights:

You can learn from your respondents. The open-ended questions offer the freedom to these respondents to be vocal about their opinion that would be insightful for a company.

Revealing Thought Patterns:

Respondent logic, thoughts, language, and reference choices can be known from these questions that can reveal a lot about how the respondent’s brain functions.

Always think before designing a survey as to what your objective is. Scrutinize the purpose, evaluate the positives and negatives of using an open or closed answer for your research study. Try it by sending out to a selected database, analyzing the results, and planning improvements for the next round of surveys.

LEARN ABOUT: Speaker evaluation form

How to Ask an Open-Ended Question?

Everything easy or complicated requires competence. Asking the right question is also one such thing that requires capabilities. Capability to understand and segment the target audience , determine the kind of questions that will work well with that audience, and determine the efficiency of them.

Here are four ways to create effective open-ended questions:

Understand the difference between open-ended question and closed-ended question:

Before you start putting questions to paper, you need to have absolute clarity on open-ended vs closed-ended questions . Your objective of sending out an online survey should be clear, and based on that, you can evaluate the kind of questions you would want to use. These are usually used where the feelings and feedback of the customer are highly valued. To receive 100% transparent feedback on these questions, make sure that you don’t lead the respondents with your questions and give them complete liberty to fill in whatever they want.

Create a list of open-ended questions before curating the survey:

Once you get clarity on what are open-ended questions and how to implement them, figure out a list of survey questions that you’d want to use. First, you can have a fair share of open-ended questions in your survey, which can fluctuate depending on your responses.

LEARN ABOUT:  Social Communication Questionnaire

Examples of open-ended questions like these are extremely popular and give you more value-added insights:

• Why do you think competitive market research is important before launching a new business?
• How do you think you’ll overcome these obstacles in our project?
• Tell us about your experience with our onboarding process.
• What are your professional priorities at the moment?
• What domain of work motivates you?
• You can make a list of similar questions before you start executing the survey.

Reconstruct any question into an open-ended question:

Observation is the key here. Observe what kind of questions you usually ask your customers, prospects, and every other person you come across. Analyze whether your questions are closed-ended or open-ended. Try and convert those closed questions into open-end ones wherever you think the latter would fetch you better results and valuable insights.

Follow up a closed-ended question with an open-ended question:

This trick works wonders. It’s not always possible to convert a closed question into an open one, but you can follow up by getting a question answered.

For example, if you have a closed question like – “Do you think the product was efficient?” with the options “Yes” and “No”, you can follow it up with an open question like “How do you think we can make the product better in future?”

Regarding surveys, the advantages of open questions surpass that of closed ones.

How to Add Open-Ended Questions?

1. Goto: Login » Surveys » Edit » Workspace

2. Click on the Add Question button to add a question.

3. Select Basic, then go to the Text section and select Comment Box.

4. Enter the question text.

5. Select the data type: Single Row Text, Multiple Rows Text, Email address, or Numeric Data.

6. Select the Text Box Location (below or next to question text). Enabling “next to question text” will put the text box to the right of the question.

How to view the data collected by an open-ended question?

1. Click on Login » Surveys » Analytics » Text Analytics » Text Report

Please note that analysis for open-ended text questions is not included in the Real-Time Summary or Analysis Report. To view the analysis of open-ended questions, you can see the Word Cloud report.

LEARN ABOUT: Easy Test Maker

Can You Limit The Number of Characters in a Text Question?

You can set the limit of the number of characters that respondents can enter in the textbox.

How to Mark The Question as Mandatory?

To make the question mandatory, you can toggle the validation on and select ‘Force Response’. It is off by default. When ‘Force Response’ is not enabled, respondents can continue with the survey without selecting answers. If respondents go through all the pages in the online questionnaire without selecting answers, the response is still considered complete. You can enable the required option to make a question required so that respondents can continue with the survey only after responding to the questions.

LEARN ABOUT: Structured Questionnaire

Closed-ended questions, like open questions, are used in both spoken and written language and in formal and informal situations. It is common to find questions of this type in school or academic evaluations, interrogations, and job interviews, among many other options.

LEARN ABOUT: This or that questions

Whether you need a simple survey tool or a collaborative research solution, with our Academic licenses for universities and educational institutions, you get access to all the best features used by our Enterprise research clients.

• Advanced logic and workflows for smarter surveys
• Over 5000 universities & colleges and over 1 million+ students use QuestionPro
• Academic license supports multi-admin role environment

Open-ended questions are essential to note that crafting practical open-ended questions requires skill and careful consideration. Questions should be clear, concise, and relevant to the topic. They should avoid leading or biased language, allowing individuals to express their views without undue influence.

Overall, open-ended questions are powerful to gather information, foster communication, and gain deeper insights. Whether used in research, professional settings, or personal conversations, they enable individuals to explore ideas, share perspectives, critical thinking of a person, and engage in meaningful discussions. By embracing the openness and curiosity of open ended questions, we can uncover new knowledge, challenge assumptions, and broaden our understanding of the world.

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Open-ended questions vs. close-ended questions: examples and how to survey users

Unless you’re a mind reader, the only way to find out what your users are thinking is to ask them. That's what surveys are for. 

But the way you ask a question often determines the kind of answer you get—and one of the first decisions you have to make is: are you going to ask an open-ended or a closed-ended question?

Last updated

Reading time.

Understanding the difference between open-ended and close-ended questions helps you ask better, more targeted questions, so you can get actionable answers. The question examples we cover in this article look at open- and closed-ended questions in the context of a website survey, but the principle applies across any type of survey you may want to run. 

Start from the top or skip ahead to 

What’s the difference between open-ended and closed-ended questions?

4 tips on how to craft your survey questions for a maximum response rate

5 critical open-ended questions to ask customers

When to ask open-ended questions vs. closed-ended questions

Open-ended vs. close-ended questions: what’s the difference?

Open-ended questions are questions that cannot be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’, and instead require the respondent to elaborate on their points.

Open-ended questions help you see things from a customer’s perspective as you get feedback in their own words instead of stock answers. You can analyze open-ended questions using spreadsheets , view qualitative research and data analysis trends, and even spot elements that stand out with word cloud visualizations.

Closed-ended questions are questions that can only be answered by selecting from a limited number of options, usually multiple-choice questions with a single-word answer (‘yes’ or ‘no’) or a rating scale (e.g. from strongly agree to strongly disagree).

Closed-ended questions give limited insight, but can easily be analyzed for quantitative data . For example, one of the most popular closed questions in market research is the Net Promoter Score® (NPS) survey, which asks people “How likely are you to recommend this product/service on a scale from 0 to 10?” and uses numerical answers to calculate overall score trends. Check out our NPS survey template to see this closed-ended question in action.

Let’s take a look at the examples of open-ended questions vs. closed-ended questions above.

All the closed questions in the left column can be responded to with a one-word answer that gives you the general sentiment of each user and a few useful data points about their satisfaction, which help you look at trends and percentages. For example, did the proportion of people who declared themselves happy with your website change in the last three, six, or 12 months?

The open-ended questions in the right column let customers provide detailed responses with additional information so you understand the context behind a problem or learn more about your unique selling points . If you’re after qualitative data like this, the easy way to convert closed-ended into open-ended questions is to consider the range of possible responses and re-word your questions to allow for a free-form answer.

💡 Pro tip : when surveying people on your website with Hotjar Surveys , our Survey Logic feature lets you ask follow-up questions that help you find out the what and the why behind your users’ actions. 

For more inspiration, here are 20+ real examples of open- and closed-ended questions you can ask on your website, along with a bunch of free pre-built survey templates and 50+ more survey questions to help you craft a better questionnaire for your users. 

Or, take advantage of Hotjar’s AI for Surveys , which generates insightful survey questions based on your research goal in seconds and prepares an automated summary report with key takeaways and suggested next steps once results are in.

Use Hotjar to build your survey and get the customer insights you need to grow your business.

How to ask survey questions for maximum responses

It’s often easy to lead your customers to the answer you want, so make sure you’re following these guidelines:

1. Embrace negative feedback

Some customers may find it hard to leave negative feedback if your questions are worded poorly.

For example, “We hope there wasn’t anything bad about your experience with us, but if so, please let us know” is better phrased neutrally as “Let us know if there was anything you’d like us to do differently.” It might sting a little to hear negative comments, but it’s your biggest opportunity to really empathize with customers and fuel your UX improvements moving forward.

2. Don’t lead your customers

“You bought 300 apples over the past year. What's your favorite fruit?” is an example of a leading question . You just planted the idea of an apple in your customers' mind. Valuable survey questions are open and objective—let people answer them in their own words, from their own perspective, and you’ll get more meaningful answers.

3. Avoid asking ‘and why?’

Tacking “and why?” on at the end of a question will only give you simple answers. And, no, adding “and why?” will not turn closed-ended questions into open-ended ones!

Asking “What did you purchase today, and why?” will give you an answer like “3 pairs of socks for a gift” (and that’s if you’re lucky), whereas wording the question as “Why did you choose to make a purchase today?” allows for an open answer like, “I saw your special offer and bought socks for my niece.”

4. Keep your survey simple

Not many folks love filling in a survey that’s 50 questions long and takes an hour to complete. For the most effective data collection (and decent response rates), you need to keep the respondents’ attention span in mind. Here’s how:

Keep question length short : good questions are one-sentence long and worded as concisely as possible

Limit the number of questions : take your list of planned questions and be ruthless when narrowing them down. Keep the questions you know will lead to direct insight and ditch the rest.

Show survey progress : a simple progress bar, or an indication of how many questions are left, motivates users to finish your survey

5 of our favorite open-ended questions to ask customers

Now that you know how to ask good open-ended questions , it’s time to start putting the knowledge into practice.

To survey your website users, use Hotjar's feedback tools to run on-page surveys, collect answers, and visualize results. You can create surveys that run on your entire site, or choose to display them on specific pages (URLs).

Different types of Hotjar surveys

As for what to ask—if you're just getting started, the five open-ended questions below are ideal for any website, whether ecommerce or software-as-a-service:

1. How can we make this page better?

If you missed the expectations set by a customer, you may have over-promised or under-delivered. Ask users where you missed the mark today, and you’ll know how to properly set, and meet, expectations in the future. An open platform for your customers to tell you their pain points is far more valuable for increasing customer satisfaction than guessing what improvements you should make. Issues could range from technical bugs to lack of product range.

2. Where exactly did you first hear about us?

An open “How did you find out about us?” question leaves users to answer freely, without leading them to a stock response, and gives you valuable information that might be harder to track with traditional analytics tools.

We have a traffic attribution survey template ready and waiting for you to get started.

3. What is stopping you from [action] today?

A “What is stopping you?” question can be shown on exit pages ; the open-form answers will help you identify the barriers to conversion that stop people from taking action.

Questions like this can also be triggered in a post-purchase survey on a thank you or order confirmation page. This type of survey only focuses on confirmed customers: after asking what almost stopped them, you can address any potential obstacles they highlight and fix them for the rest of your site visitors.

4. What are your main concerns or questions about [product/service]?

Finding out the concerns and objections of potential customers on your website helps you address them in future versions of the page they’re on and the products they’ll use. It sounds simple, but you’ll be surprised by how candid and helpful your users will be when answering this one.

Do you want to gather feedback on your product specifically? Learn what to improve and understand what users really think with our product feedback survey template and this expert advice on which product questions to ask when your product isn't selling.

5. What persuaded you to [take action] today?

Learning what made a customer click ‘buy now’ or ‘sign up’ helps you identify your levers. Maybe it’s low prices, fast shipping, or excellent customer service—whatever the reason, finding out what draws customers in and convinces them to stay helps you emphasize these benefits to other users and, ultimately, increase conversions.

Ask the right questions at the right time to get the insights you need

Whether you’re part of a marketing, product, sales, or user research team, asking the right questions through customer interviews or on-site surveys helps you collect feedback to create better user experiences and increase conversions and sales.

The type of question you choose depends on what you’re trying to achieve:

Ask a closed-ended question when you want answers that can be plotted on a graph and used to show trends and percentages. For example, answers to the closed-ended question “Do you trust the information on [website]?” helps you understand the proportion of people who find your website trustworthy versus those who do not.

Ask an open-ended question when you want in-depth answers to better understand your customers and their needs , get more context behind their actions, and investigate the reasons behind their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with your product. For example, the open-ended question “If you could change anything on this page, what would it be?” allows your customers to express, in their own words, what they think you should be working on next.

Not only is the kind of question you ask important—but the moment you ask it is equally relevant. Hotjar Surveys , our online survey tool , has a user-friendly survey builder that lets you effortlessly craft a survey and embed it anywhere on your web page to ask the right questions at the right time and place.

Build and send a survey today 🔥

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Whether you’re running focus groups for your pricing strategy or conducting usability testing for a new product, user interviews are one of the most effective research methods to get the needle-moving insights you need. But to discover meaningful data that helps you reach your goals, you need to connect with high-quality participants. This article shares five tips to help you optimize your recruiting efforts and find the right people for any type of research study.

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After the thrill of a successful user interview, the chore of transcribing dialogue can feel like the ultimate anticlimax. Putting spoken words in writing takes several precious hours—time better invested in sharing your findings with your team or boss.

But the fact remains: you need a clear and accurate user interview transcript to analyze and report data effectively. Enter automatic transcription. This process instantly transcribes recorded dialogue in real time without human help. It ensures data integrity (and preserves your sanity), enabling you to unlock valuable insights in your research.

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An 8-step guide to conducting empathetic (and insightful) customer interviews in mid-market companies

Customer interviews uncover your ideal users’ challenges and needs in their own words, providing in-depth customer experience insights that inform product development, new features, and decision-making. But to get the most out of your interviews, you need to approach them with empathy. This article explains how to conduct accessible, inclusive, and—above all—insightful interviews to create a smooth (and enjoyable!) process for you and your participants.

A survey expert’s guide to open ended questions

There are many factors to consider when collecting feedback to ensure that you gather the desired information. The way you phrase a question can have a significant impact on the quality of answers and data. You can call it fascinating or simply brain-racking. In the end, you can divide survey questions into two categories: closed-ended questions (for quantitative data) or open-ended questions (for unstructured, more qualitative data).

A closed-ended question refers to any question for which a researcher provides research participants with options from which to choose a response.

Examples of closed-ended questions:

• Were you satisfied with the service? Yes / No
• On a scale from 1-10, how satisfied were you with the service?

On the other hand, an open-ended question is a question that cannot be answered with a “yes” or “no” response, or with selecting a predefined category.

Examples of an open-ended question:

• What were you most satisfied with?

When to use closed-ended questions

As you might have noticed, most surveys are based on closed-ended questions, comprised of nominal, ordinal, or interval scales  . Closed-ended questions are mostly easy for survey participants to answer, but obtain a limited set of data, which simplifies survey administration. Because closed-ended questions are easy to answer, they might be the preferred approach for some study designs, depending on the purpose of the survey. Furthermore, the responses can be easily coded and analysed.

Closed-ended questions are great for gathering insights, comparing results and measuring effects, but they have limitations. They don’t encourage personal reflection or explanations, leaving the “why” and deeper thoughts behind answers unexplored. Luckily, open-ended questions can unlock these insights and provide valuable context. By using open-ended questions, you can discover rich, unanticipated perspectives from respondents.

Qualitative research is now more accessible and less resource-intensive thanks to advances in technology. You can enhance your quantitative results by including qualitative questions that allow for greater depth and richness in responses. Take advantage of this by incorporating open-ended questions in your survey to unlock new insights and perspectives.

Overwhelmed by too many open text answers? You’ve got to try Text Analysis!

• Create surveys based on our templates
• Send surveys via email, links, API or individual logins
• Analyse responses with filters & AI

When to use open ended questions — and why

Asking open-ended questions in a survey can be a powerful tool for gaining deep insights into the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of your respondents. Open-ended questions allow people to share their ideas and perspectives in their own words, giving you a wealth of information that can help you make informed decisions.

Use open-ended questions when you want to dive deeper into a topic or when you’re looking for new ideas and fresh perspectives. By asking open-ended questions, you’re inviting your respondents to share their unique experiences and insights, and that’s where the magic happens.

Here are the four key benefits of collecting open-text answers:

Discover ‘unknown unknowns’

Open-text answers allow you to eliminate guess work, giving you valuable insights into exactly what your customers and employees need to remain loyal to your business. 

Qualitative data meets quantitative

Take your data beyond quantitative metrics like (e)NPS and CSAT. Providing subjective opinions, ideas, feelings and emotions, open-text responses are essential for putting customer and employee numerical data and behaviour patterns into context.

Immediately close the feedback loop

When you know precisely what your customers and employees want — or what they don’t — you can take quick and targeted action.

Invest time and resources in the right place

Text Analysis enables you to provide your leadership teams with comprehensive, aggregated insights that will help to inform strategic planning and decision making.

New to Text Analysis? Download our quick start guide.

How to use open-ended questions in your surveys

Examples of open-ended questions for qualitative research can come in many forms: as a stand-alone question, as a follow-up to a closed-ended question, as comment sections, and many more. Let’s have a look at a couple of these and in which scenarios they can be valuable.

1. To complement closed-ended questions

A) at the end of a group of closed-ended questions or a grid:.

Open-ended questions are an invaluable tool for gaining a comprehensive understanding. Not only do they provide additional information, but they also reveal hidden insights that may have gone unnoticed. When combined with closed-ended questions, open-ended questions help minimize the risk of bias resulting from misinterpretation. Moreover, if a question is unclear, respondents are more likely to provide feedback in the comment box. By embracing the power of open-ended questions, you can gain a fuller understanding of the big picture.

b) As an additional text field to add clarity or premise

To engage your survey respondents and gain valuable insights, consider including optional comment boxes or additional text fields. These features provide an opportunity for respondents to elaborate on sub-questions, such as those found in multiple-choice questions. However, be mindful of not overburdening your respondents and keeping the survey response time reasonable. By allowing respondents to expand on their closed-ended answers, you increase the likelihood of gaining additional insights and verifying other responses. With this approach, you can optimize your surveys for maximum engagement and data collection.

2. Free-standing open questions

Open-ended questions are a powerful tool for collecting valuable insights from survey respondents. By asking them ahead of closed-ended questions or as standalone queries, you encourage brainstorming and spontaneous responses free from prior influences. This approach is particularly useful for addressing complex issues and evaluating surveys.

To ensure the success of your surveys and avoid mistakes, it’s important to exercise caution. Before launching a series of surveys with a similar design, take the time to evaluate your questionnaire. Are there any areas that require more in-depth details or clarification? Incorporating open-ended questions can help identify such areas and prevent future errors, leading to more successful survey outcomes.

How to get the most out of open-ended questions with Text Analysis

What is text analysis.

Text Analysis is a powerful technology that leverages machine learning to extract insights from large amounts of text data. Rather than having to manually analyse this data, Text Analysis uses natural language processing to categorize responses and identify patterns in an unbiased and scalable way.

By automating this process, Text Analysis gives you a clear picture of what your customers and employees are experiencing in their own words, and helps you understand the “why” behind numerical feedback data. With Text Analysis, you can unlock the full value of open-ended questions and gain deep insights that inform your decision-making.

The good news is that you can easily get access to the power of Text Analysis in the Netigate feedback tool . There are three key ways you can leverage the value of this technology:

• Understand the sentiment behind text answers

Sentiment analysis is an application of natural language processing that instantly reveals the emotional states behind text responses. Essentially, it’s a great tool for helping you to identify and understand how your customers and employees are feeling about you and your business.

• Reveal the most important keywords

The keyword extraction component of Netigate’s Text Analysis allows you to grasp the key concepts in text answers without having to read them all yourself.

• Group answers into topics you define

Topics is a new deep learning component of Text Analysis that allows you to automatically sort free text answers into topic categories that you define yourself.

6 tips for writing open-ended question s

Being intentional and thoughtful when preparing your questions will get you high-quality, high-value open-text answers. This is essential for getting the most out of Text Analysis. Here’s how to do it.

1. Avoid asking closed questions

When writing your questions, try not to start them with ‘Did’, ‘Are’, ‘Were’, ‘Do’, ‘Will’, or ‘Would’. This is because they can all be answered with ‘yes’ or ‘no’. This is going to limit the value you get out of Text Analysis.

⛔️ Did you like the product? ⛔️ Were you happy with the service you received? ⛔️ Are you satisfied with your manager?

2. Sometimes it doesn’t need to be a question

If what you want to ask or know doesn’t quite work well in question form, you can rephrase it. Instead, use words and phrases like ‘Tell us about…’, ‘Describe…’, ‘Explain…’.

This is also a great option because these words tend to encourage people to write more. And Text Analysis loves text. It can do more with long answers than very short ones.

3. Ask ‘what’ questions

Think about the goal of your survey and how you plan to use the feedback data. Do you want concrete tips on how to improve a product or your office space, for example? Then you should ask ‘what’ questions that encourage respondents to provide precise details.

✅ What did you like/think about the product? ⛔️ Did you like the product?

4. Think about the size of your textboxes

It seems that textbox size matters. Interestingly, our insight experts have noticed that survey respondents write more if the answer field for an open-ended question is larger. Bigger textbox = potentially more detailed feedback.

5. More is more

As we explained in tip 2, Text Analysis performs best when it has lots of high-quality text answers to work with. Always keep this in mind when writing your questions and preparing your surveys.

Better questions = Better answers = Better analyses

6. Reduce the amount of questions you use by relying on sentiment analysis.

Respondents don’t want to answer too many open-ended questions. Instead of asking multiple different questions about the same thing, you can use sentiment analysis to help you sort ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ answers.

⛔️ What did you like about the product? ⛔️ What didn’t you like about the product? ✅ Tell us what you thought about the product.

Click for more examples of good and bad open ended questions.

Both types of questions have their place

Is your business improving or standing still? While quantitative questions will give you clear insights in the form of numeric data, analysing open-ended questions will provide you with clear, in-depth insights, such as What do you need to further develop or improve? There is no optimal ratio between qualitative and quantitative questions; it often depends on the purpose of the survey and target group. For example, nordic patient surveys have shown that optional comment boxes were appreciated by 76% of the respondents. However, the best approach employs both types of questions in order to get the most value from your research.

How to utilise the advantages of qualitative research

When we think of survey, we often think of a single question to rate something…

How to speed up the pretest of your questionnaire: Practical tips for everyday survey work

The pretest of a questionnaire can often be done with simple means. We explain how this works.

5 essential tips for avoiding untruths and ensuring reliable survey data

Discover essential strategies for dealing with untruths in surveys, and unlock reliable data insights with Netigate's expertise in questionnaire design and untruth recognition.

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Surveys-An Introduction

What is a survey.

A survey is a set of questions administered to a population from which you would like to gain more information or insight about a topic. A survey can take many forms. It can include: questions about attitudes on a scale, open-ended questions where respondents write out long-form or short-form answers, options from a list, questions that evaluate the understanding of the respondent, heat maps or rankings of options about a topic, and many other forms. You can use surveys for assessment of pedagogy in your classroom; for example, to evaluate whether students are utilizing office hours or other student support options or to measure interest in changing how interactive your lectures are. You can also use surveys for research, where the surveys are designed with a research question in mind or as part of an intervention strategy.

What is a Survey Used for in Academia?

In a feedback survey, you are asking for respondents’ opinions on an event or topic with the goal of identifying areas of change for improvement or assessing how previous changes are being received. In academia, the most recognizable form of this category is the course evaluation.

In a research survey, the questions are tailored to address a specific hypothesis or research question. The data is then analyzed through various means to provide more insight into the question at hand.

Is a Survey the Right Choice for My Study?

Whether a survey is appropriate can be determined by the question: Is the data I need to answer my research question available to me through self-reporting by the respondents? Data that is self-reported includes personal thoughts, beliefs, opinions, or anything specific to the individual that you cannot obtain from another source. If you are looking to gather data on more tangible factors such as grade improvement or demographics, a survey will not be the best method for your study due to the large margins of error and bias in reporting that should be avoided unless necessary. (This bias is discussed in more detail in the Survey Delivery & Participation  section if you would like to know more.)

Identify the Purpose of Your Survey

The purpose of a survey is not necessarily the same as the purpose of research (Davies 2020). For example, your  research  purpose may be to understand undergraduate study habit’s effects on test grades, but your  survey  purpose may be to determine how many students use each type of study methodology. Surveys are versatile tools than can be used for a variety of end goals such as acquiring information or testing a hypothesis, so it is important to identify the intended purpose before beginning to generate your survey or planning its administration.  Surveys can also be as broad or as narrow as you want them to be, so ask yourself,  what am I trying to achieve or learn from the responses of this survey?  The answer to this question will direct the design of the survey you are writing.

When designing a survey, consider the overall purpose and the sample size that you are working with. Are you looking to assess the change in a small group of respondents’ outlooks on something or their habits over time? Or are you wanting a single batch of data from a large sample size that comes from a survey given once? Consider the feasibility of each option, not just which option you think will yield the best results.  

Choosing a Survey Type

Longitudinal.

A survey series given over a period of time to monitor changes within a population.

Cross-sectional

A one-time occurrence to obtain a static view of a population at a single point in time.

Retrospective

A hybrid of longitudinal and cross-sectional, only given once but asks respondents about multiple points in time in the same vein as longitudinal surveys.

Davies, R. S. (2020). Survey Administration Planning. In Designing Surveys for Evaluations and Research. EdTech Books.  https://edtechbooks.org/designing_surveys/administration

Davies, R. S. (2020). Conceptualization Phase. In Designing Surveys for Evaluations and Research. EdTech Books.  https://edtechbooks.org/designing_surveys/survey_concept_Design

DeCarlo, M. (2018). Types of surveys.  Scientific Inquiry in Social Work .  https://pressbooks.pub/scientificinquiryinsocialwork/chapter/11-3-types-of-surveys/

Porter, S. R., Whitcomb, M. E., & Weitzer, W. H. (2004). Multiple surveys of students and survey fatigue.  New Directions for Institutional Research ,  2004 (121), 63–73.  https://doi.org/10.1002/ir.101

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Your quick guide to open-ended questions in surveys.

17 min read In this guide, find out how you can use open-ended survey questions to glean more meaningful insights from your research, as well as how to analyse them and best practices.

When you want to get more comprehensive responses to a survey – answers beyond just yes or no – you’ll want to consider open-ended questions.

But what are open-ended questions? In this guide, we’ll go through what open-ended questions are, including how they can help gather information and provide greater context to your research findings.

What are open-ended questions?

Open-ended questions can offer you incredibly helpful insights into your respondent’s viewpoints. Here’s an explanation below of what they are and what they can do:

Free-form and not governed by simple one word answers (e.g. yes or no responses), an open-ended question allows respondents to answer in open-text format, giving them the creative thinking, freedom and space to answer in as much (or as little) detail as they like.

Open-ended questions help you to see things from the respondent’s perspective, as you get feedback in their own words instead of stock answers. Also, as you’re getting more meaningful answers and accurate responses, you can better analyse sentiment amongst your audience.

Get started with our free survey software

Open-ended versus closed-ended questions

Open-ended questions provide more qualitative research data; contextual insights that accentuate quantitative information. With open-ended questions, you get more meaningful user research data.

Closed-ended questions, on the other hand, provide quantitative data ; limited insight but easy to analyse and compile into reports. Market researchers often add commentary to this kind of data to provide readers with background and further food for thought.

Here are the main differences with examples of open-ended and closed-ended questions:

For example, an open-ended question might be: “What do you think of statistical analysis software?”.

Whereas closed-ended questions would simply be: “Do you use statistical analysis software?” or “Have you used statistical analysis software in the past?”.

Open-ended questions afford much more freedom to respondents and can result in deeper and more meaningful insights. A closed question can be useful and fast, but doesn’t provide much context. Open-ended questions are helpful for understanding the “why”.

When and why should you use an open-ended question?

Open-ended questions are great for going more in-depth on a topic. Closed-ended questions may tell you the “what,” but open-ended questions will tell you the “why.”

Another benefit of open-ended questions is that they allow you to get answers from your respondents in their words. For example, it can help to know the language that customers use to describe a product of feature, so that the company can match the language in their product description to increase discoverability.

Open-ended questions can also help you to learn things you didn’t expect, especially as they encourage creativity, and get answers to slightly more complex issues. For example, you could ask the question “What are the main reasons you canceled your subscription?” as a closed-ended question by providing a list of reasons (too expensive, don’t use it anymore). However, you are limited only to reasons that you can think of. But if you don’t know why people are canceling, then it might be better to ask as an open-ended question.

You might ask open-ended questions when you are doing a pilot out preliminary research to validate a product idea. You can then use that information to generate closed-ended questions for a larger follow-up study.

However, it can be wise to limit the overall number of open-ended questions in a survey because they are burdensome.

In terms of what provides more valuable information, only you can decide that based on the requirements of your research study. You also have to take into account variables such as the cost and scale of your research study, as well as when you need the information. Open-ended questions can provide you with more context, but they’re also more information to sift through, whereas closed-ended questions provide you with a tidy, finite response.

If you still prefer the invaluable responses and data from open-ended questions, using software like Qualtrics Text IQ can automate this complicated process. Through AI technology Text IQ can understand sentiment and articulate thousands of open-ended responses into simplified dashboards.

Learn More: Qualtrics Text IQ

Open-ended question examples

While there are no set rules to the number of open-ended questions you can ask, of course you want to ask an open-ended question that correlates with your research objective.

Here are a few examples of open-ended survey questions related to your product:

• What do you like most about this product?
• What do you like least about this product?
• How does our product compare to competitor products?
• If someone asked you about our product, what would you say to them?
• How can we improve our product?

You could even supplement closed-ended questions with an open-ended question to get more detail, e.g. “How often do you use our product?” — with a multiple choice, single word answers approach. These might be simple answers such as “Frequently”, “Sometimes”, “Never” — and if a respondent answers “Never”, you could follow with: “If you have never used our product, why not?”. This is a really easy way to understand why potential customers don’t use your product.

Also, incorporating open-ended questions into your surveys can provide useful information for salespeople throughout the sales process. For example, you might uncover insights that help your salespeople to reposition your products or improve the way they sell to new customers based on what existing customers feel. Though you might get helpful answers from a closed-ended question, open-ended questions give you more than a surface-level insight into their sentiments, emotions and thoughts.

It doesn’t need to be complicated, it can be as simple as what you see below. The survey doesn’t need to speak for itself, let your survey respondents say everything.

Asking open-ended questions: Crafting question that generate the best insights

Open responses can be difficult to quantify. Framing them correctly is key to getting useful data from your answers. Below are some open ended questions examples of what to avoid.

1. Avoid questions that are too broad or vague

Example :  “What changes has your company made in the last five years due to external events?”

Problem : There are too many potential responses to this query, which means you’ll get too broad a range of answers. What kind of changes are being referred to, economic, strategic, personnel etc.? What external events are useful to know about? Don’t overwhelm your respondent with an overly broadquestion – ask the right questions and get precise answers.

Solution : Target your questions with a specific clarification of what you want. For example, “What policy changes has your company made about working from home in the last 6 months as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic?”. Alternatively, use a close-ended question, or offer examples to give respondents something to work from.

2. Make sure that the purpose of the question is clear

Example :  “Why did you buy our product?”

Problem : This type of unclear-purpose question can lead to short, unhelpful answers. “Because I needed it” or “I fancied it” don’t necessarily give you data to work with.

Solution : Make it clear what you actually want to know. “When you bought our product, how did you intend to use it?” or “What are the main reasons you purchased [Our Brand] instead of another brand?” might be two alternatives that provide more context.

3. Keep questions simple and quick to answer

  Example :  “Please explain the required process that your brand uses to manage its contact centre (i.e. technical software stack, approval process, employee review, data security, management, compliance management etc.). Please be as detailed as possible.”

Problem : The higher the level of effort, the lower the chances of getting a good range of responses or high quality answers. It’s unlikely that a survey respondent will take the time to give a detailed answer on something that’s not their favourite subject. This results in either short, unhelpful answers, or even worse, the respondent quits the survey and decides not to participate after seeing the length of time and effort required. This can end up causing bias with the type of respondents that answer the survey.

Solution : If you really need the level of detail, there are a few options to try. You can break up the question into multiple questions or share some information on why you really need this insight. You could offer a different way of submitting an answer, such as a voice to text or video recording functionality, or make the question optional to help respondents to keep progressing through the survey. Possibly the best solution is to change from open-ended questions in a survey to a qualitative research method, such as focus groups or one-to-one interviews, where lengthier responses and more effort are expected.

4. Ask only one  question at a time

Example :  “When was the last time you used our product? How was your experience?”

Problem : Too many queries at once can cause a feeling of mental burden in your respondents, which means you risk losing their interest. Some survey takers might read the first question but miss the second, or forget about it when writing their response.

Solution : Only ask one thing at a time!

5. Don’t ask for a minimum word count

Example :  “Please provide a summary of why you chose our brand over a competitor brand. [Minimum 50 characters].”

Problem : Even though making a minimum word count might seem like a way to get higher quality responses, this is often not the case. Respondents may well give up, or type gibberish to fill in the word count. Ideally, the responses you gather will be the natural response of the person you’re surveying – mandating a word count impedes this.

Solution : Leave off the word count. If you need to encourage longer responses, you can expand the text box size to fit more words in. Offer speech to text or video recording options to encourage lengthier responses, and explain why you need a detailed answer.

6. Don’t ask an open-ended question when a closed-ended question would be enough  

Example :  “Where are you from?”

Problem : It’s harder to control the data you’ll collect when you use an open question when a closed one would work. For example, someone could respond to the above question with “The US”, “The United States” or “America”.

Solution : To save time and effort on both your side and the participant’s side, use a drop-down with standardised responses.

7. Limit the total number of open-ended questions you ask  

Example :  “How do you feel about product 1?” “How do you feel about product 2?” “How do you feel about product 3?”

Problem : An open question requires more thought and effort than a closed one. Respondents can usually answer 4-6 closed questions in the same time as only 1 open one, and prefer to be able to answer quickly.

Solution : To reduce survey fatigue, lower drop-off rates, and save costs, only ask as many questions as you think you can get an answer for. Limit open-ended questions for ones where you really need context. Unless your respondents are highly motivated, keep it to 5 open-ended questions or fewer. Space them out to keep drop-offs to a minimum.

8. Don’t force respondents to answer open-ended questions

Example :  “How could your experience today have been improved? Please provide a detailed response.”

Problem : A customer may not have any suggestions for improvements. By requiring an answer, though, the customer is now forced to think of something that can be improved even if it would not make them more likely to use the service again.  Making these respondents answer means you risk bias. It could lead to prioritising unnecessary improvements.

Solution : Give respondents the option to say “No” or “Not applicable” or “I don’t know” to queries, or to skip the question entirely.

How to analyse the results from open-ended questions

Step 1: collect and structure your responses.

Online survey tools can simplify the process of creating and sending questionnaires, as well as gathering responses to open-ended questions. These tools often have simple, customisable templates to make the process much more efficient and tailored to your requirements.

Some solutions offer different targeting variables, from geolocation to customer segments and site behaviour. This allows you to offer customised promotions to drive conversions and gather the right feedback at every stage in the online journey.

Upon receipt, your data should be in a clear, structured format and you can then export it to a CSV or Excel file before automatic analysis. At this point, you’ll want to check the data (spelling, duplication, symbols) so that it’s easier for a machine to process and analyse.

Step 2: Use text analytics

One method that’s increasingly applied to open-ended responses is automation. These new tools make it easy to extract data from open-text question responses with minimal human intervention. It makes an open-ended question response as accessible and easy to analyse as that of a closed question, but with more detail provided.

For example, you could use automated coding via artificial intelligence to look into buckets of responses to your open-ended questions and assign them accordingly for review. This can save a great deal of time, but the accuracy depends on your choice of solution.

Alternatively, you could use sentiment analysis — a form of natural language processing — to systematically identify, extract and quantify information. With sentiment analysis, you can determine whether responses are positive or negative, which can be really useful for unstructured responses or for quick, large-scale reviews.

Some solutions also offer custom programming so you can apply your own code to analyse survey results, giving complete flexibility and accuracy.

Step 3: Visualise your results

With the right data analysis and visualisation tools, you can see your survey results in the format most applicable to you and your stakeholders. For example, C-Suite may want to see information displayed using graphs rather than tables — whereas your research team might want a comprehensive breakdown of responses, including response percentages for each question.

This might be easier for a survey with closed-ended questions, but with the right analysis for open-ended questions’ responses, you can easily collate response data that’s easy to quantify.

With the survey tools that exist today, it’s incredibly easy to import and analyse data at scale to uncover trends and develop actionable insights. You can also apply your own programming code and data visualisation techniques to get the information you need. No matter whether you’re using open-ended questions or getting one-word answers in emojis, you’re able to surface the most useful insights for action.

Ask the right open-ended questions with Qualtrics

With Qualtrics’ survey software , used by more than 13,000 brands and 99 of the top 100 business schools, you can get answers to the most important market, brand, customer, and product questions with ease. Choose from a huge range of multiple-choice questions (both open-ended questions and closed-ended) and tailor your survey to get the most in-depth responses to your queries.

You can build a positive relationship with your respondents and get a deeper understanding of what they think and feel with Qualtrics-powered surveys. The best part? It’s completely free to get started with.

Related resources

Post event survey questions 10 min read, questionnaires design 15 min read, best survey software 16 min read, survey vs questionnaire 12 min read, close-ended questions 7 min read, likert scales 14 min read, response bias 13 min read, request demo.

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