Question Types and Answers in Questionnaires & Surveys

Whether by telephone, in person, in writing, or online – the standardized questionnaire survey is undoubtedly one of the most popular methods of data collection in empirical research. With the help of surveys, researchers can determine people's personal opinions and attitudes in order to reliably answer your previously defined research question. However, in order to obtain scientifically valid data from a survey, the question types used and their corresponding answer options are of great importance.

Different Question and Answer Types

Generally speaking, every survey aims to collect socially relevant information about test subjects or respondents and ideally transfer it to a larger population group. Respondents' answers can be strongly influenced by how the questions are phrased. When designing a survey, researchers must therefore carefully consider which questions are suitable for your specific research project.

The following scientific question types are available to you:

1. Open-ended questions: With free answer option
2. Closed-ended questions: Several answer options are provided
3. Semi-open questions: Provided answer options are supplemented with an open category

 

Open-Ended Questions (= with free answer option)

Respondents can answer the question in their own words. Open-ended questions usually start with a question word (how, what, which) and are therefore colloquially also called "W-questions."

• Example 1: What did you watch on television last night? ________
• Example 2: Which criteria are important to you when buying a new car? ________

 

For the analysis of open-ended questions, appropriate categories must be created after the survey, which then have to be quantified. In most cases, the analysis of open-ended questions involves a comparatively high amount of work. For this reason, open-ended questions are mainly used when dealing with new research areas and researchers want to uncover commonalities or trends in respondents' answering behavior. They are increasingly used in qualitative surveys.

 

Closed-Ended Questions (= several answer options are provided)

Respondents can select the appropriate answer from a limited number of answer options. A distinction is made between single-choice questions and multiple-choice questions: For closed-ended questions with one permitted answer, these are single-choice questions (= single selection). For closed-ended questions with more than one permitted answer, these are multiple-choice questions (= multiple selections).

• Example Single-Choice Questions:
  Do you have a Netflix account?
  Answers: "Yes" or "No"
   
• Example Multiple-Choice Questions:
  Please select all streaming services for which you currently have a subscription:
  Answers: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, Wow (formerly Sky Ticket), YouTube Premium, DAZN, Joyn, Eurosport Player

 

The analysis of closed-ended questions is much simpler because the answer options are already optimally adapted and categorized to the research question using scale levels. Therefore, closed-ended questions are used very frequently in empirical research. They are mainly used in quantitative surveys.

 

Semi-Open Questions (= provided answer options are supplemented with an open answer)

Respondents must answer a closed-ended question but have an additional answer category at the end (= "other answer", "other"), which can be answered like an open-ended question.

• Example: Which supermarket do you shop at most frequently?
  Answers: Lidl, Aldi, Penny, Rewe, Edeka, Netto, Other: ______

 

A semi-open question is appropriate whenever researchers can estimate possible answer options well (= therefore a closed-ended question), but still want to allow an unexpected answer option (= free answer option). For the analysis, additional coding effort is required compared to closed-ended questions.

 

Regardless of the specific question and answer types, every scientific survey must also ensure that all respondents receive exactly the same questions – with identical wording and the same answer alternatives. In the case of oral surveys, researchers must also be careful to remain neutral in their question formulation in order to avoid possible unconscious influence on test subjects!