What is an advantage of open questions?

• A. They are quick to answer
• B. They standardize responses
• C. Get more information; produces qualitative data
• D. They always produce easy analysis

Answer: (C)

Open questions let participants respond in their own words, which results in richer, qualitative information. Because there aren’t fixed options guiding their answers, people can share details, nuances, and reasons that might not be captured with closed questions. This depth is especially valuable when you want to understand motives, experiences, or complex viewpoints and to generate ideas for further study. Unlike open questions, quick-to-answer is true of fixed-choice formats, standardization comes from predefined options, and they’re not always easy to analyze due to the variability of responses.