What is
a Closed Question?
Closed Questions
are narrow in focus and restrict the interviewee's
freedom to determine the amount and kind of information to
provide.
Moderately Closed Questions ask for specific,
limited pieces of information. Examples are:
"What
courses have you had in German?"
"When
did you decide to study medicine?"
"What
is your average pretax income?"
Highly
Closed Questions ask respondents to select appropriate
answers from lists such as the following survey
question:
Which
of these cable channels do you watch most
often?
_ A&E
_ Comedy Central
_ Disney Channel
_ Turner Classic Movies
_
Discovery Channel
Highly closed
questions may appear in employment assessment interviews in which
applicants are asked to identify specific skills and experiences.
Interviewees must pick and choose from prescribed lists.
What is
a Bipolar Question?
Closed questions
may be bipolar because they limit respondents to
two polar choices. Some ask us to select an answer from polar
opposites. For example:
"Are
you a conservative or a liberal?"
"Are
you a new member or renewal member?"
"Are
you a junior or a senior?"
Other
bipolar questions ask for an evaluation or
attitude. For example:
"Do
you agree or disagree with the President's position on same-sex
marriage?"
"Do you like or dislike the new plus and minus grade
system?"
The most common
bipolar questions ask for yes or no responses. For
example:
"Do
you live in a residence hall?"
"Are
you familiar with the new antivirus
software?"
"Have
you voted?"
Closed Questions Have Advantages
Closed questions
permit interviewers to control the length of
answers and guide respondents to specific information
needed. Closed questions require little effort from either party
and allow you to ask more questions, in more areas, in less time.
And answers are easy to replicate, tabulate, and analyze from, one
interview to another. This is why surveys employ closed
questions.
Closed Questions Have Disadvantages
Answers to closed
questions often contain too little information,
requiring you to ask several questions when one open question would
do the job. And they do not reveal why a person has a particular
attitude, the person's degree of feeling or commitment, or why this
person typically makes choices.
Interviewers talk
more than interviewees when asking closed questions. Interviewees
have no opportunity to volunteer or explain
information and can rate, select an answer, or say yes or no
without knowing anything about a topic.
As you narrow a question, the amount of data decreases. As the
amount data decreases, your control increases, less time and skill
are required, and the degree of precision, reliability, and
reproducibility increases. On the other hand, as you open up a
question, the amount of data increases and interviewees reveal
knowledge level, understanding, reasons for feeling or acting,
attitudes, and hidden motives.
Many
interviews include open and closed questions with varying degrees
of constraint to get the information desired. An open question such
as "Tell me about yourself," may be followed up with more closed
questions such as, "When did you graduate from Virginia Tech?"
"Tell me about you mission trip to Haiti" and "Why did you decide
to work for Habitat for Humanity when you graduated?"
Image Credits:
2. Lesather
3. DubSnipe
4. Photojennic
