Dichotomous, Multiple type Questions in Survey

Dichotomous

The dichotomous question is a question that can have two possible answers. Dichotomous questions are usually used in a survey that asks for a Yes/No, True/False, Fair/Unfair or Agree/Disagree answers. They are used for a clear distinction of qualities, experiences, or respondent’s opinions.

If you want information only about product users, you may want to ask this type of question to “opt-out” those who haven’t bought your products or services. It is important that you ask this type of question if there are only two possible answers. Avoid using a dichotomous question to inquire about feelings and emotions as it is a neutral area where people would prefer to answer “maybe,” or “occasionally”.

Dichotomous questions (Yes/No) may seem simple, but they have few problems both on the part of the survey respondent and in terms of analysis. Yes/No questions often force customers to choose between options that may not be that simple and may lead to a customer deciding on an option that doesn’t truly capture their feelings.

The benefits of dichotomous questions are that they are easy and short. Also, you can simplify the survey experience. Dichotomous questions have the advantage to ease responses and ease the analysis of the data.

Multiple type Questions

Survey questions can use either a closed-ended or open-ended format to collect answers from individuals. And you can use them to gather feedback from a host of different audiences, including your customers, colleagues, prospects, friends, and family.

Multiple choice questions are the most popular survey question type. They allow your respondents to select one or more options from a list of answers that you define. They’re intuitive, easy to use in different ways, help produce easy-to-analyze data, and provide mutually exclusive choices. Because the answer options are fixed, your respondents have an easier survey-taking experience.

Perhaps, most important, you’ll get structured survey responses that produce clean data for analysis.

The most basic variation is the single-answer multiple choice question. Single answer questions use a radio button (circle buttons representing options in a list) format to allow respondents to click only one answer. They work well for binary questions, questions with ratings, or nominal scales.

Advantages of Multiple Choice Questions

• They are less complicated and less time consuming:

Imagine the pain a respondent goes through while having to type in answers when they can simply answer the questions at the click of a button. Here is where multiple choice lessens the complications.

Many-a-times the survey creator would want to ask straightforward questions to the respondent, the best practice is to provide the choices instead of them coming up with answers, this in-turn saves their valuable time.

• Responses get a specific structure and are easy to analyz:

Surveys are often developed with respondents in mind, how will they answer the questions? This is where multiple choice gives a specific structure to responses, therefore becomes the best choice.

Let’s say at your workplace you receive a survey asking about the best restaurant, to host the Christmas party. Honestly speaking giving specific options isn’t going to hurt, rather, as a surveyor, you are sure that the answer will be from one of the options given to the respondents.

It will be easier for the surveyor to analyze the data as it will be free from any errors (as respondents won’t be typing in answers) and the surveyor would atleast know that not a random restaurant would be chosen.

• Helps respondent comprehend how they should answer:

One of the positives of multiple choice options is that they help respondents understand how they should answer. In this manner, the surveyor can choose how generalist or specific the responses need to be.

At all times, the surveyor needs to be careful on the choice of question in order to be able to receive responses that are easy to analyze.

• They appear to look good on handheld devices:

It is estimated that 1 out of 5 people take surveys on handheld devices like mobile phones or tablets. Considering the fact that there is no mouse or keyboard to use, multiple choice questions make it easier for the respondent to choose as there is no scrolling involved.