Closed-ended vs Open-Ended Test items

Closed-ended  vs Open-Ended Test items

Closed-ended questions are those which can be answered by a simple "yes" or "no,"

closed-ended questions come in a multitude of forms, but are defined by their need to have explicit options for a respondent to select from. There are a wide variety of closed-ended question types for survey creators to choose from, including: Multiple choice, semantic differential, drop down, check boxes, ranking, and many more. Each question type does not allow the respondent to provide unique or unanticipated answers, but rather, they have to choose from a list of pre-selected options.

Examples of closed-ended questions are:

·         Are you feeling better today?

·         Will you please do me a favor?

·         Have you already completed your homework?

·         Is that your final answer?

·         Is math your favorite subject?

·         Does four plus four equal eight?

Advantage:

1.      Questions that are closed-ended are conclusive in nature as they are designed to create data that is easily quantifiable :

The fact that questions of this type are easy to code makes them particularly useful when trying to prove the statistical significance of a survey’s results. Furthermore, the information gained by closed-ended questions allows researchers to categorize respondents into groups based on the options they have selected.

2.      Demographic studies can illustrate a good use for closed-ended questions: Imagine that the manager of a designer clothing store believes that certain types of people are more likely to visit their store and purchase their clothing than others. To decipher which segment groups are most likely to be their customers, the manager could design a survey for anyone who has been a visitor. This survey could include closed-ended questions on gender, age, employment status, and any other demographic information they’d like to know. Then, it would be followed by questions on how often they visit the store and the amount of money they spend annually. Since all the questions are closed-ended, the store manager could easily quantify the responses and determine the profile of their typical customer. In this case, the manager may learn that her most frequent customers are female students, aged 18-25. This knowledge would allow her to move forward with an action plan on how to cater to this niche better or break into other target demographics.

Disadvantage:

The major drawback to closed-ended questions is that a researcher must already have a clear understanding of the topic of his/her questions and how they tie into the overall research problem before they are created. Without this, closed-ended questions will lead to insufficient options for respondents to select from, questions that do not properly reflect the research’s purpose, and limited or erroneous information.

For example, if I asked the question “Do you get to work by driving, busing, or walking?” I would have accidently omitted carpooling, biking, cart wheeling or any other form of transportation I am unaware of. Instead, it would have been better for me to ask the open-ended question of “How do you get to work?” to learn all the different types of answer before forcing the selection based on a list of several options.

Open-Ended Questions:

open-ended questions are those which require more thought and more than a simple one-word answer. Open-ended questions are exploratory in nature. As discussed with the “How do you get to work?” question, it allows for the respondent to provide any answer they choose without forcing them to select from concrete options.

some examples of open-ended questions:

·         What were the most important wars fought in the history of the United States?

·         What are you planning to buy today at the supermarket?

·         What is your favorite memory from childhood?

·         How will you help the company if you are hired to work for us?

·         What do you plan to do immediately following graduation from college?

·         How could I present myself better?

Advantage:
Questions that are open-ended provide rich qualitative data. In essence, they provide the researcher with an opportunity to gain insight on all the opinions on a topic they are not familiar with. However, being qualitative in nature makes these types of questions lack the statistical significance needed for conclusive research. Nevertheless, open-ended questions are incredibly useful in several different ways:

1) Expert Interviews: Since questions that are open-ended ask for the critical thinking and uncut opinion of the respondent, they are perfect for gaining information from specialists in a field that the researcher is less qualified in. Example: If I wanted to learn the history of Ancient China (something I know very little about), I could create my survey for a selected group of historians whose focus is Ancient China. My survey would then be filled with broad open-ended questions that are designed to receive large amounts of content and provide the freedom for the expert to demonstrate their knowledge.

2) Small Population Studies: Open-ended questions can be useful for surveys that are targeting a small group of people because there is no need for complex statistical analysis and the qualitative nature of the questions will give you more valuable input from each respondent. The rule here is the group must be small enough for the surveyor to be able to read each unique response and reflect on the information provided. Example: A supervisor who is looking for performance feedback from his/her team of six employees. The supervisor would benefit more from questions that allow the respondents to freely answer rather than forcing them into closed-ended questions that will limit their responses.

3) Preliminary Research: As stated in the closed-ended questions section, conclusive research usually requires preliminary research to be conducted in order to design the appropriate research objects, survey structure and questions. Open-ended questions can reveal to the surveyor a variety of opinions and behaviours among the population that they never realized. It is therefore, incredibly useful to use open-ended questions to gain information for further quantitative research.

4) A Respondent Outlet: It is usually a good idea in any survey, no matter how large, to leave an open-ended comments question at the end. This is especially in the case of a survey asking closed-ended questions on attitudes, opinions, or behaviours. Forcing respondents to answer closed-ended questions asks them to fit in your box of options and can leave them with extra information or concerns that they want to share with you. Providing respondents with the outlet of a comment box is showing them the respect they deserve for taking the time to fill out your survey.

Disadvantage:

There are a few drawbacks to open-ended questions as well. Though respondent answers are almost always richer in quality, the amount of effort it takes to digest the information provided can sometimes be overwhelming. That is why open-ended questions work best in studies with smaller populations. Furthermore, if your survey sample is a fraction of the population you are studying, you will be looking to find data which can be inferred on the overall population as statistically significant. Unfortunately, open-ended questions cannot be used in this manner, as each response should be seen as a unique opinion.

Comparison:

Closed-ended questions should not always be thought of as simple questions that anyone can quickly answer merely because they require a yes or no answer. Closed-ended questions can also be very complicated. For example, "Is 1 in binary equal to 1 in counting numbers?" is a closed-ended question that not everyone would be able to quickly answer.