Open-Ended Question

Reasons to Use Open-Ended Questions

All open-ended questions are alike in that the respondent is not given answer choices. However, the reasons for using this structure and the level of cognitive effort needed to respond can vary. The following are seven examples that illustrate different reasons for open-ended questions.

• 1.
  Build rapport and encourage participation. Asking an easy-to-answer question at the beginning of the questionnaire signals expressing an opinion as a benefit of survey participation and acknowledges the importance of what the respondent has to say. Sometimes initial qusestions used for this purpose are considered “warm-up” questions because one of the main objectives is to engage the respondent (e.g. In your opinion, what is the most important issue facing the United States today?).
• 2.
  Get factual information. When there is a wide range of answers expected to provide individual factual information, an open-ended structure can address the problem of having a list of more response choices than it is practical to include in a questionnaire. Factual information may be a request for a verbatim or for a numeric response (e.g. What is your occupation? How much do you plan to spend on holiday gifts? Last year, what was your total annual household income?).
• 3.
  Expand a list. When a closed-ended question offers a list of specific items or response choices (e.g. places where people get their news), a follow-up question asking about additional information can ensure that the pre-listed choices have not omitted any options (e.g. Are there any others?).
• 4.
  Explain a prior answer. An open-ended question can deepen the understanding of the response to a preceding question by obtaining additional details on the reason for the answer choice (e.g. Why were you satisfied/dissatisfied with your last doctor's appointment?).
• 5.
  Establish knowledge. A test question can distinguish between more and less informed respondents to enhance the understanding of opinion formation (e.g. Who are the U.S. senators from your state?).
• 6.
  Clarify terminology. Asking respondents to define a key word in a question documents their level of understanding. It can also inform the variation in the meanings of words used among the respondents [Page 548]who gave an answer (e.g. What does welfare mean to you?).
• 7.
  Explore new topics. The questionnaire can be an opportunity to get suggestions for future survey topics that are especially salient to the respondent. In particular for longitudinal studies, this information can inform the development of future questionnaires (e.g. Questionnaires by their nature are limited. What city services, not included in this questionnaire, should be evaluated in future surveys?).

Data Quality Considerations

When an open-ended question is used, particular attention must be paid to other aspects of the survey process that can affect the data quality and are specifically related to this structure: method of data collection, coding verbatim responses, and time and expenditure trade-offs.

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