Recommendation: Any other comments? Open questions on questionnaires. A bane or a bonus to research?

Steve Simon

2013/12/05

This is a classic reference that is worth re-posting. No one seems to know what to do about those pesky open-ended questions you see on a survey. This article offers practical tips on how to handle this type of data.

“Any other comments?” Open questions on questionnaires – a bane or a bonus to research? O’Cathain A, Thomas KJ. BMC Med Res Methodol 2004: 4(1); 25. Abstract: “Background:<U+00A0> The habitual “any other comments” general open question at the end of structured questionnaires has the potential to increase response rates, elaborate responses to closed questions, and allow respondents to identify new issues not captured in the closed questions. However, we believe that many researchers have collected such data and failed to analyse or present it. Discussion:<U+00A0> General open questions at the end of structured questionnaires can present a problem because of their uncomfortable status of being strictly neither qualitative nor quantitative data, the consequent lack of clarity around how to analyse and report them, and the time and expertise needed to do so. We suggest that the value of these questions can be optimised if researchers start with a clear understanding of the type of data they wish to generate from such a question, and employ an appropriate strategy when designing the study. The intention can be to generate depth data or ‘stories’ from purposively defined groups of respondents for qualitative analysis, or to produce quantifiable data, representative of the population sampled, as a ‘safety net’ to identify issues which might complement the closed questions. Summary: We encourage researchers to consider developing a more strategic use of general open questions at the end of structured questionnaires. This may optimise the quality of the data and the analysis, reduce dilemmas regarding whether and how to analyse such data, and result in a more ethical approach to making best use of the data which respondents kindly provide.” Available at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2288/4/25.

I summarized this article on my website back in 2005.