Survey Design 101 | Open v. Closed-ended Questions
Questionnaires - surveys, feedback forms, quizzes, exit slips - whatever you wanna call them are AMAZING ways to collect information. But alas, your information is only as good as the question you ask. Today I wanna chat about two main question types: open-ended versus closed-ended. Let's say you want to know the biggest challenge your clients (or prospective clients) face with their business.
Here are two (of many) ways it might look:
1️⃣ What is the biggest challenge you face with your business? (open-ended aka people write/type in their response)
2️⃣ What is the biggest challenge you face with your business? (closed-ended aka there are categories to choose from - of course, you want to tailor the list in #2 to YOUR specific business)
O Balancing my work life and personal life
O Finding time to create content O Attracting my ideal clients
O Deciding how much to charge for my services O Other, please specify
My vote is often for #2, and here is why - closed-ended questions are super powerful - 1) They are quicker/easier for people to answer, and 2) They give YOU shareable information - e.g., what percentage of people come to you because their biggest challenge is work-life balance? There is a time and place for open-ended questions where people can freely write, but they can be more time-consuming/annoying for people to answer AND more difficult for you to analyze, especially once you have 20, 30, 50, 100+ people filling out your questionnaire - qualitative coding isn’t for the faint of heart! So, as you review your questions, ask yourself: Do I NEED a written response? Will I be able to analyze/use written responses? Could I more easily get this information by providing simple categories for someone to choose from?
the run down
0:03 Intro
0:37 Difference between open-ended and closed-responses
1:19 How to choose your question type
4:28 An example
6:31 Guidelines for choosing
