{"id":15507,"date":"2022-05-01T10:00:23","date_gmt":"2022-05-01T15:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/?p=15507"},"modified":"2022-05-01T10:00:23","modified_gmt":"2022-05-01T15:00:23","slug":"open-ended-questions-and-closed-ended-questions-what-they-are-and-how-they-affect-user-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/open-ended-questions-and-closed-ended-questions-what-they-are-and-how-they-affect-user-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Ended Questions and Close Ended Questions In User Research (With Examples)"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 9<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

A complete user research approach involves both the <\/span>quantitative <\/span><\/a>and <\/span>qualitative research<\/span><\/a> process.<\/span><\/p>\n

Seasoned experimenters know that quantitative research without qualitative research leads to an incomplete conversion user research that leaves many questions than answers.<\/span><\/p>\n

The questions you’re seeking to answer are not how my web visitors interact on my website\/app (quantitative research already covers that) but why are they acting the way they do? What are their intentions and motives?<\/span><\/p>\n

This is where the qualitative research approach comes into play.<\/span><\/p>\n

Except you’re a mind reader, qualitative research as a<\/span> conversion rate optimization<\/span><\/a> process is how you get to know the why of your customers and web visitors.<\/span><\/p>\n

You get to mine unfiltered customer insights by asking them open-ended and closed-ended questions.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the name suggests, open ended questions<\/a> are free-form questions that allow customers to air their opinions without restrictions. In contrast, close ended questions have a YES\/NO reply format or minimal options.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mistake I see many marketers and CRO specialists make is the assumption that it is just questions, so they’ll be easy to formulate and ask.<\/span><\/p>\n

No! You couldn’t be more wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s a scenario that drives home my point.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you ask the wrong questions, you’ll get the wrong answers, leading you to wrong conversion blockers that you’ll then prioritize, run <\/span>A\/B tests, <\/span><\/a>and get skewed results.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, we don’t want this type of monumental error, which is why this article.<\/span><\/p>\n

We’ll be looking at what’re open ended questions, and close ended questions, what user research is, examples of open ended and close ended questions, different types of qualitative research, how to apply open ended questions and close ended questions, and the impact of open ended questions and close ended questions on user research.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ready to learn more? Strap in, and let’s get started.<\/span><\/p>\n

What Are Open-Ended Questions?\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

Open-ended questions are questions that don’t restrict the participants in the answers they provide.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What this means is when you ask a participant a question, you expect them to elaborate on their points.<\/span><\/p>\n

Open-ended questions offer a deep pool of insight into your customer’s mind because the interview process is free-form, and the participant is expected to give you feedback instead of stock answers from a limited answer pool.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What Are Close Ended Questions?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On the other hand, closed-ended questions require a yes\/no reply or have limited responses that the participants can give.<\/span><\/p>\n

Close-ended questions give limited insight to the research’s conversion rate optimization specialist because the participants are expected to respond from a limited pool of answers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A significant advantage of close-ended questions is that they can be asked to many participants, and you can analyze them for quantitative data (more on this later).<\/span><\/p>\n

Types of Survey Questions<\/b><\/h2>\n

The beautiful thing about survey questions is that they can be used in open-ended questions and close-ended questions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An important point to note is this; before writing your survey questions, ask yourself this question; how do you intend to use the answer from this survey? Do you want quantitative data or insights into the mind of your customer?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This will help you in the framing of your questions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Below are some popular types of survey questions you can ask for quantitative data and qualitative insights.<\/span><\/p>\n