Open-Ended vs. Close-Ended Questions: Analysis and Implications

This assignment examines the distinctions between open-ended and closed-ended questions, crucial in various fields such as psychology and research. Open-ended questions, exemplified by "Why do you like math?", encourage detailed responses, offering insights into an individual's thoughts and opinions. Conversely, closed-ended questions, such as "Do you want to go to the movie?", elicit concise answers, often a simple "yes" or "no". The assignment highlights the different purposes of these question types: open-ended questions aim to explore perspectives, while closed-ended questions seek specific information. The provided bibliography includes sources by Saris & Gallhofer (2014) and Shelly & Rosenblatt (2009), supporting the analysis and providing a foundation for understanding the concepts. The analysis underscores the importance of these question types in surveys, research, and data collection, and understanding their usage. The document is contributed by a student and is available on Desklib.

There are two types of question which can be used while conversing- they are the open-ended
questions and the close-ended questions. That is the beauty of the conversation that people who are
conversing and the one who is asking questions has the advantage whether he wants the other one to
speak much at length or just reply in the short crisp answers.
The close-ended questions are those, the answers of which cannot be just one word-and they do not
give any explanation like just a mere yes or a no (Saris & Gallhofer 2014). The examples of close-ended
questions can be-
 Have you completed your work?
 Do you want to go out for a movie?
 What is your name?
 Which is your favourite subject?
Whereas, the open-ended questions are those, the answers of which can be given in an elaborate
manner i.e. the person cannot just leave giving a short or one-word reply. The open-ended questions
help in knowing the ideas of the people. The examples of open-ended questions are-
 Why do you like math as a subject?
 What is the meaning of your name?
 Why do you don't want to go to the movie with us?
 Why have you not completed your homework?
The main motive of asking close-ended questions is that the other person just wants to know the yes or
no of the other person whereas the main motive of the open-ended questions is that the person wants
to know the opinion of the other person over the certain idea and his thoughts on that topic (Shelly &
Rosenblatt 2009).

Bibliography
Saris, W & Gallhofer, I 2014, Design, Evaluation, and Analysis of Questionnaires for Survey Research, 2nd
edn, Wiley Publications, New York.
Shelly, G & Rosenblatt, H 2009, Systems Analysis and Design - Page 156, 8th edn, Course Technology
Cengage Learning, USA.