Web Survey Bibliography
Title Open-ended vs. Close-ended Questions in Web Questionnaires
Author Reja, U., Lozar Manfreda, K., Hlebec, V., Vehovar, V.
Source Advances in methodology and statistics (Metodološki zvezki), 19, pp. 159-177
Year 2003
Access date 25.05.2004
Full text pdf (211k)
Abstract Two quite different reasons for using open-ended as opposed to closeended questions can be distinguished. One is to discover the responses that individuals give spontaneously; the other is to avoid the bias that may result from suggesting responses to individuals. However, open-ended questions also have disadvantages in comparison to close-ended, such as the need for extensive coding and larger item non-response. While this issue has already been well researched for traditional survey questionnaires, not much research has been devoted to it in recently used Web questionnaires. We therefore examine the differences between the open-ended and the closeended question form in Web questionnaires by means of experiments within the large-scale RIS 2001 Web survey. The question “What is the most important, critical problem the Internet is facing today?” was asked in an open-ended and two close-ended question forms in a split-ballot experiment. The results show that there were differences between question forms in univariate distributions, though no significant differences were found in the ranking of values. Close-ended questions in general yield higher percentages than open-ended question for answers that are identical in both question forms. It seems that respondents restricted themselves with apparent ease to the alternatives offered on the close-ended forms, whereas on the open-ended question they produced a much more diverse set of answers. In addition, our results suggest that open-ended questions produce more missing data than close-ended. Moreover, there were more inadequate answers for open-ended question. This suggests that open-ended questions should be more explicit in their wording (at least for Web surveys, as a self administered mode of data collection) than close-ended questions, which are more specified with given response alternatives.
Access/Direct link Homepage - journal (full text)
Year of publication2003
Bibliographic typeJournal article
Web Survey Bibliography - Psychological issues (234)
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- Psychological Research Online; 2004; Kraut, R., Olson, J., Banaji, M., Bruckman, A., Cohen, J., Couper, M. P.
- Human Research And Data Collection Via The Internet; 2004; Birnbaum, M. H.
- Psychological Testing on the Internet: New Problems, Old Issues; 2004; Naglieri, J. A., Drasgow, F., Schmit, M., Handler, L., Prifitera, A., Margolis, A., Velasquez, R.
- The antecedents of consumers' loyalty toward Internet Service Providers; 2004; Chiou, J. -S.
- The impact on interviewee behavior caused by audiovisual online-communication answering sensitive questions...; 2004; Muehlenfeld, H. -U.
- Are online-offline differences in personality test scores due to increased self-disclosure?; 2004; Buchanan, T., Joinson, A. N.
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- A Comparison of the Psychometric Qualities of Surveys Administered by Web and Traditional Methods; 2003; Mertler, C. A., Earley, M. A.
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- Web-based research: Methodological variables' effects on dropout and sample characteristics; 2003; O'Neil, K. M., Penrod, S. D., Bornstein, B. H.
- Open-ended vs. Close-ended Questions in Web Questionnaires; 2003; Reja, U., Lozar Manfreda, K., Hlebec, V., Vehovar, V.
- Submit, Resist, or Subvert?: Organization Members’ Responses to Electronic Surveillance; 2003; Coopman, S., Watkins Allen, M., Hart, J.
- An empirical study on the adoption of information appliances with a focus on interactive TV; 2003; Choi, H., Choi, M., Kim, J., Yu, H.
- Humanizing self-administered surveys: experiments on social presence in web and IVR surveys; 2003; Tourangeau, R., Couper, M. P., Stegier, D.M.Steiger, D. M.; de Rouvray, C.
- Using Internet-Based Surveys With Physicians, What Works and What Doesn't Work; 2003; Schneiderman, M., Thran, S., Adams, C., Lerner, B.
- Psychological Research Online: Opportunities and Challenges; 2003; Kraut, R., Olson, J., Banaji, M., Bruckman, A., Cohen, J., Couper, M. P.
- The Impact of Lottery Incentives on Student Survey Response Rates; 2003; Whitcomb, M. E., Porter, S. R.
- Online longitudinal survey research. Validity and participation; 2002; Hiskey, S., Troop, N. A.
- E-Research: Ethics, security, design, and control in psychological research on the Internet; 2002; Banaji, M., Greenwald, A., Nosek, B.
- July 2002 Status of Forces Survey of Active-Duty Members: Tabulations of Responses; 2002
- Web-based data collection: Ethical and practical considerations; 2002; Sedivy, S. K., Brondino, M. J.
- Standards for Internet-Based Experimenting; 2002; Reips, U. -D.
- Rape Myth Acceptance and Judgments of Vulnerability to Sexual Assault: An Internet Experiment; 2002; Bohner, G., Danner, U. N., Siebler, F., Samson, G. B.
- Measuring Differences in Preactivation on the Internet: The Content Category Superiority Effect; 2002; Eichstaedt, J.
- Internet Experts' Planning of Explanations for Laypersons: A Web Experimental Approach in the Internet...; 2002; Nueckles, M., Bromme, R.
- Time Measurement And Pre-testing In On-line-Questionnaires; 2002; Mueller, J., Reimer, M.
- Using the Internet for Organizational Research: A Study of Cynicism in the Workplace; 2002; Eaton, M. A. J., Struthers, C. V.
- Internet-based Survey Research in the U.S. Navy; 2002; Olmsted, M. G.
- Attitudes of Business Faculty Towards Two Methods of Collecting Teaching Evaluations: Paper vs. Online...; 2002; Dommeyer, C. J., Baum, P., Chapman, K.S., Hanna, R.W.
- Network ethnography and the hypermedia organization: new media, new organizations, new methods; 2002; Howard, P. N.