How to Craft Effective Closed-Ended Questions

When you are designing an interview, one of the most important considerations is the questions that you ask. There are two general categories of questions: open and closed. Open questions allow the respondent to give a descriptive answer. For example, you might ask: "Can you describe what you saw when you arrived?" Closed questions, on the other hand, only require a yes or no answer. For instance, you might ask: "Were you satisfied with the arrangements?" A closed question is appropriate when a precise answer is required, such as in an emergency situation or in a quantitative study.

Instructions

    • 1

      Write a simple version of the research question. For example, your basic research question might be "Do the students utilize the dining services at the Student Union?"

    • 2

      Add detail to the basic research question to form closed-ended interview questions. Remember that the participant can only give a yes or no answer, so you will have to make the question specific if you want to get enough information to make the question useful. For example, to add detail to the question about dining at the Student Union, you might ask "Do you eat at the Chinese restaurant in the Student Union?" or "Do you dine at the Student Union more than twice a week?"

    • 3

      Ask additional questions related to the closed-ended question. While close-ended questions have the advantage of eliciting a precise response, they rarely contain enough information to gather all of the information that you need. For example, you might follow your question about the dining habits of the students with other questions about where they eat at the union, how often they eat, how much they spend, and at what times they visit the union.

    • 4

      Record the responses carefully. The questions aren't useful if you don't record and analyze the responses to determine the answer to your overall research question.

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