Different Types of Survey Questions which are Mostly used in Survey

A survey is the most important way to get feedback from customers. Every kind of organization needs a survey to improve its service or product.

To make an effective survey it is essential to make an effective survey question. There are mainly two types of survey questions that are widely used in the survey.

So, let’s know something detail about these two types of survey questions and their facility and limitation:-

Types of survey questions

1. Open-ended Questions: Open-ended questions present a variety of topics but let employees answer in their own words. The typical survey form uses both approaches.

2. Closed-End Questions:  There are various kinds of closed-end questions, but a hallmark of each is the high degree of structure in the response categories.” One popular type, the Index of organizational reactions, uses multiple-choice questions.

Here respondents read all the answers to each question and then mark the response that comes closest to their own feelings. Other surveys use questions with “true or false” or “agree or disagree” answers.

The frequently used job Descriptive Index provides respondents with a set of statements and asks them to indicate whether the term describes their work situation by checking either “Yes” or “No” responses.

Somewhat more flexible are the surveys that present statements and request employees to respond by checking a numerical scale to indicate their degree of agreement or disagreement, as shown here.

Another approach is to ask respondents for their “hindsight” ratings; employees are asked to assess the degree to which the item was present at some past point in time (e.g., three months or one year) as well as the present.

This allows an organization to estimate the degree of change in employee satisfaction as a result of introducing new programs in spite of not having measured it before the change.

Types of survey questions
Types of survey questions

Because of concern over the meaning that employees may attach to only numbers in a response scale, instruments like the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire provide brief descriptions of each number on the scale-for example,

  1. Not satisfied
  2. Slightly satisfied
  3. Satisfied
  4. Very satisfied
  5. Extremely satisfied

These descriptions aid employees in selecting their responses and help management interpret the data.

The chief advantage of surveys with close-end questions is that they are easy to administer and analyze statistically.

Questions in contrast to closed-end questions, open-end questions seek responses from employees in their own words. This unstructured approach permits employees to express their feelings, thoughts, and intentions fully.

For example, managers may not be too impressed if they discover that thirty-nine comments similar to the following: “Our sick-leave plan stinks!”

On the other hand, undirected questions ask for general comments about the job. This management learns about the topics that currently are troubling employees and seem important to them.

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