Close-Ended Questions: Definition, Examples and When to Use Them

Closed-ended questions offer preset answers; open-ended questions let people reply in their own words. Closed gives you comparable numbers, open gives you reasons.

Is a Likert scale a closed-ended question?

Yes. A Likert item asks people to pick one point on a fixed agreement scale, so it is closed-ended and produces ordinal data.

How many answer options should a closed question have?

Enough to cover every realistic answer without overlap, and few enough to scan at a glance. For most single-choice lists that means roughly 4 to 8 options.

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References

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3. Krosnick, J. A. and Presser, S. (2010). Question and Questionnaire Design. In P. V. Marsden and J. D. Wright (eds), Handbook of Survey Research, 2nd edn. Emerald.
4. Krosnick, J. A. (1991). Response strategies for coping with the cognitive demands of attitude measures in surveys. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 5, 213 to 236.
5. Government Analysis Function. Ethnicity harmonised standard. GOV.UK.