Saturday 16 April 2011

Research Methods RE: Open and Closed Questions

Advantages of Open Questions:
  • Participant can write in their own words, hence producing qualitative data, which is rich and detailed in terms of data
  • More realistic
  • Participant can precisely express what they are thinking
Disadvantages of Open Questions:
  • Analysis may be difficult due to qualitative nature; takes time to read
Advantages of Closed Questions:
  • Predetermined responses allows quantitative data and can be statistically analysed
Disadvantages of Closed Questions:
  • Questioning is unrealistic; therefore artificial
  • Unclear as to how the participant has answered the question
  • No richness compared to qualitative responses

Examples
Open: 'What do you think of the internet as an educational medium?'
Closed: 'Does you use the internet?'

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