Abstract
This 4-page fact sheet provides an overview of constructing open-ended items for a questionnaire. It is part of the Savvy Survey Series. Written by Jessica L. Gouldthorpe and Glenn D. Israel, and published by the UF Department of Agricultural Education and Communication, April 2014.
AEC397/PD067: The Savvy Survey #6b: Constructing Open-Ended Items for a Questionnaire (ufl.edu)
References
Couper, M. P., Kennedy, C., Conrad, F. G., and Tourangeau, R. (2011) "Designing Input Fields for Non-narrative Open-ended Responses in Web Surveys," Journal of Official Statistics, 27, 65-85.
de Leeuw, E. D., Hox, J. J., and Dillman, D. A. (Eds.). (2008). International handbook of survey methodology. New York, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Dillman, D. A., Smyth, J. D., and Christian, L. M. (2009). Internet, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: The tailored design method. (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
Groves, R. M., Fowler, F. J., Couper, M. P., Lepkowski, J. M., Singer, E., and Tourangeau, T. (2009), Survey methodology (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Israel, G. D. (2010). Effects of answer space size on responses to open-ended questions in mail surveys. Journal of Official Statistics, 26(2), 271-285.
Smyth, J. D., Dillman, D. A., Christian. L. M., and McBride, M. (2009). Open-ended questions in web surveys: Can increasing the size of answer boxes and providing extra verbal instructions improve response quality? Public Opinion Quarterly, 73(2), 325-337. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfp029