All kinds of questions and how to use them to get insightful data

There is one small and easy thing you need to do to excel at your work. It is the ability to inquire about your customers and colleagues and get actionable, in-depth data you can build on. For the majority of positions, especially client-facing, HR and involving team management, the ability to ask the right questions is paramount.

Before you start using all kinds of questions

Before we get to the "how", let's talk about the "why". Don't start with looking at problems like single choice vs multiple choice questions. Leave that for later. Begin by considering multiple factors of your assessment or evaluation. This will significantly increase the quality of your tests and the validity of their results.

There is a test-making routine to follow to make the most of each problem you put in front of your respondents and get precisely the results you need. Regardless of the types and different levels of questions on tests you select, ensure you adhere to the fail-proof checklist explaining how to write better test questions.

The definition of close ended questions

The choice here is multiple choice vs single choice questions. They all have a set of probable answers limited to those selected by the assessment or evaluation organizers.

Close-ended questions are perfect for measuring skills and knowledge and providing test organizers with solid and objective evidence of respondents' performance. On the downside, those questions make cheating easier and let test-takers blind-guess correct answers, which ultimately obscures the validity of results.

The definition of open ended questions

They include problems such as descriptive (essay) or short-answer and are much broader.

Even though in this kind of question, the author might hint to respondents as to what they should include in their answers, it is ultimately up to them to choose what they think is essential. It makes open-ended questions much more difficult, but in return, they allow insights from the respondent's perspective.

What is the difference between open and closed questions?

The difference between those two is the difficulty level and the data they provide for the test organizers.

• Close ended questions produce objective results that are easy to measure, quantify, analyze and display in the form of various charts and graphs.

• Open ended questions offer more personal, thorough and insightful information, which might, however, be subjective and difficult to measure.

What is the MCQ type question?

Multiple-choice questions are the most common form of testing the recall of facts, verifying levels of understanding, and ability to apply learning to practice.

Multiple-choice questions come in different forms:

• "Yes/no" or "True/false" are simple MCQs that require respondents to select one of (usually) two available options. Sometimes they can be more complex and include a third alternative, "maybe". They are not particularly good for quantitative data, deep insights, and respondent feedback.
  
  Their results are almost depthless, so you should keep true or false questions to such applications as customer satisfaction surveys or simple, low-stakes quizzes. You should also remember that respondents might cheat by googling your true or false questions with answers if they know it before the test.

• Single-select questions offer more alternatives than the kind described above. Those are the "proper" test questions that most people remember from school, recruitment processes, training or periodic work reviews.
  
  Single-select means that respondents choose only one correct answer from those provided by the organizers. The number of alternatives can be between 2 and 3 or even a dozen or more. However, those with 4 to 6 options work best.

• Multi-select questions are similar to single-select in their form but more demanding. They require test-takers to carefully decide not only which alternative is the correct answer, but also if there is more than one right answer.
  
  This category of multiple-choice questions is tricky, can cause respondents confusion, and might distort the validity of the results obtained. You should use multi-select problems only for mature respondents with enough logical thinking abilities.

The advantages of multiple-choice questions include the following:

• They take little time to complete, on paper and online. It means that an MCQ test can comprise more questions and verify skills and knowledge in various areas.
  

• They are effortless to analyze, even without the help of online testing tools. When a recruiter, teacher or trainer uses such a platform, they can expect software automation to grade all questions in seconds.
  

• In online surveys, multiple-choice questions have a significant advantage over open-ended ones in terms of better respondent engagement.
  

• Online assessment platforms can easily randomize MCQ test sets. It makes cheating more difficult, as each respondent can receive a unique set of questions.

Their disadvantages are the following:

• Respondents have to recognize the correct answer among the alternatives. They do not necessarily have to know it.

• Creating multiple-choice questions takes a bit more time than in the case of open-ended ones.

• The results are quantitative, not qualitative. It makes insights more superficial than in the case of short open-ended, and descriptive questions.

• Blind guessing and cheating can obscure result validity and reliability.

Multiple choice questions on online test platforms

The incredible advantage of all types of multiple-choice questions is that test organizers can use them on online testing platforms that automate grading. This feature significantly saves time and resources and provides unbiased results.

Another asset of this kind of software is the ability to author and organize tests entirely online and in a hybrid environment. It proved essential for education and business during lockdowns when most school and university tests, recruitment processes, professional training, etc., moved to the online environment.

What is a short, open-ended question?

Open-ended questions allow respondents to answer what they want without limiting the number of possible alternatives like all MCQs do. They are perfect for verifying knowledge of facts.

Open ended-questions are very common in customer service and sales to build positive relationships with customers and engage them in a dialogue. They produce much better outcomes than multiple-choice questions and take less time to answer than descriptive ones.

They're also great tools to include in a customer satisfaction survey. Open-ended questions provide a brief response that takes little time and can be a gateway to a further conversation. That is the main difference between closed and open questions.

The advantages of short, open-ended questions are the following:

• They are easy to create and answer, which is convenient for both test authors and respondents.

• Respondents can't guess the correct answer. They have to come up with it and then explain it.

• Just like descriptive questions, they provide better feedback. Trainers, instructors and teachers can learn more about the effectiveness of their teaching efforts. Respondents, on the other hand, can receive detailed insights into their knowledge's strong and weak spots.

• In early education, short, open-ended questions are an excellent way of checking factual knowledge and spelling simultaneously.

The disadvantages of short, open-ended questions include:

• Provide insight into lower-order thinking only. Unsuitable for assessing higher-order thinking, such as analyses or syntheses.

• In the case of on-paper quizzes, tests or exams, illegible handwriting might cause low scores, despite the respondent's knowledge of a topic.

• They encourage test respondents to only memorize details. As a result, their broader understanding of the content might be superficial.

What is a descriptive question?

Descriptive questions (also called essay questions) do much more than verify the knowledge of facts! They allow respondents to come up with their responses and to voice what is really on their minds. Most open-ended questions definitions say they usually start with "Why?", "How?", "What?", "Explain" or "Describe" and are fantastic tools for gaining deep insights into skills, knowledge and personal opinions.

Unlike in the case of multiple-choice questions, authoring descriptive ones requires less time and work. The process of grading them is, however, a bit more demanding.

The advantages of using descriptive questions are the following:

• They are easy and fast to create, although they require complex knowledge of the subject from the test author.

• They allow test-takers to speak their minds and share opinions, providing more significant insights for the organizers.

• They ensure thorough verification of respondents' in-depth understanding of the topics.

• Test-takers’ answers are unaffected by blind guessing.

• Cheating is much more difficult than in the case of multiple-choice or short answer questions.

The disadvantages of using descriptive questions include the following:

• Time-consuming and strenuous grading. The fast delivery of results is hardly possible. Persons who verify test answers must examine them thoroughly to ensure that the grade reflects the respondents' performance.

• Respondents with superior communication skills have better chances of getting good grades. Putting the correct answer in words might be a problem for some people who know it but find it hard to describe.
  
  Test organizers should always take into account the abilities of their groups. Descriptive questions require some language skills for correct phrasing. Not all of your respondents might be up to it. Always make sure the persons you want to test can handle the tasks.

Make sure you read all of our guides if you want to know more about using various examples of test questions in practice. For detailed information about variants of descriptive questions, see the table below.

Different kinds of test questions and the results they yield

Single select multiple-choice questions

It is a multiple-choice question type in which the respondent can select only one option from a list of alternatives - possible answers created by the test author.

Unlike in the case of short open-ended, and especially descriptive questions, single choice questions take less time, so your tests can cover more topics. Their results are also much more objective and free from biases of persons marking tests.

Even though closed questions give more superficial data and limited insight, the offer solid quantitative data. These are easier to analyze, interpret and present in the form of clear tables and graphs. It makes drawing actionable conclusions from MCQ tests much faster and highly effective.

Multi select multiple-choice questions

Multi select MCQs are far more challenging to answer accurately than single select.

Yes/No questions

It is the most basic of all the different kinds of questions. You can use it in all types of low-stakes quizzes and tests, where you don't need to get an in-depth understanding of a problem.

Short answer questions

Short answer questions require test respondents to do much more than recognize the correct answer among the alternatives provided. Here, they must remember or come up with an answer on their own, making results more valid than in the case of MCQs.

Descriptive (essay) questions

These questions dig deep into your respondents' comprehension of the test topic.

Summary - all questions are good if you create them with a purpose in mind

You need accurate information to achieve your goal: hire a true talent, run excellent professional training, or manage high-performing sales or customer service. To get that data, you must ask the right questions to the right audience.

The points described there are foundations of successful assessments and evaluation. Those, in turn, are the basis for actionable insights and informed decisions that elevate businesses and make a difference between mediocre firms and market leaders.