Types of Questions in Questionnaire

Broadly, There are two types of questions, i.e. Closed-ended and Open-ended:

1. Closed-ended Questions: In these kinds of questions, respondents can answer questions by selecting from a limited number of predefined options already given by the researcher. In such kinds of questions, the researcher cannot provide an unanticipated answer but rather chooses from the list of answers already provided. The various types of closed-ended questions are as follows:

A. Alternate response type: This type of question offers only two options, which can be either yes or no, fair or unfair, or true or false.

Example:

Question: Have you ever written an article for GFG?

Answer: 

1. Yes
2. No

B. Multiple Choice Type of Questions: In such kinds of questions, respondents are allowed to select one or more options from a list of predefined answers.

Example:

Question: What is your educational qualification?
Answers: 

1. Primary
2. Matriculation
3. Graduate
4. Post-Graduate
5. Doctorate

In this question, there are multiple choices for answers. This kind of question is called a single multiple-choice question.

C. Rating Scale or Ordinal type of Questions: In a rating scale question, the researcher gives a scale of numbers for the answer to choose from, and the respondent can choose a number from the given scale that most accurately represents his response.

Example:

Question: pH of water is?

Answer: 

1. 1-5 (Highly acidic)  
2. 5-6 (Acidic)
3. 6-7 (Moderately Acidic) 
4. 7-7.1 (Neutral)

 Here the options have a scale for answers.

D. Ranking type of questions: These questions ask respondents to order their answers in order of preference.

Example:

Question: Most peaceful country?

Answers:

 Here respondents can rate the countries on a scale of 1 to 5 according to their preferences.

2. Open-ended Questions: These kinds of questions are explanatory in nature and can go to any length, as they provide the researcher with rich qualitative data and give an opportunity to the researcher to gain insight into those fields of study, which are not covered by the close-ended questions. Such questions have no statistical purpose, as they let the respondent answer questions of varying lengths, which makes such questions concluding in nature.

Example:

 Question: How one can contribute to open sources?

 Now answer to this question will be of different lengths varying from respondent to respondent.