Research methods
Types of survey questions: examples and when to use each one
The main types of survey questions (closed, multiple choice, checkbox, rating, Likert, ranking, open-ended) with examples, strengths and when to use each.
Most survey questions fall into four families: closed questions with a fixed set of answers (yes/no, multiple choice, checkboxes), rating questions that measure degree (Likert, numeric and adjective scales), ranking questions that force a priority order, and open-ended questions answered in the respondent's own words. Pick the format by what you need to know: a count or category, a degree of opinion, a priority, or something you cannot predict.
The types at a glance
| Type | Example | Use it to learn | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes/no | "In the past 30 days, did a tenant report a heating problem?" | Whether something happened | Plain "Yes"/"No" invites agreement; spell out "Yes, this happened" |
| Multiple choice, one answer | "How do tenants usually submit maintenance requests?" | Which category someone falls into | Options that overlap or miss common answers |
| Checkbox (select all that apply) | "Which of these tools do you use?" | Several items at once, quickly | Undercounts compared with separate yes/no questions |
| Rating scale | "How well does your current system work? Very well to Not at all well" | Degree or intensity | Unbalanced labels; everything rated high |
| Likert (agreement) | "I trust our maintenance cost reports. Strongly disagree to Strongly agree" | Attitudes across several statements | Tendency to agree with statements |
| Ranking | "Rank these three problems from most to least costly" | Priority among options | Cannot show how far apart the ranks are |
| Open-ended | "What almost stopped you from switching vendors?" | Answers you cannot predict | Skipped often and must be read and coded |
Closed questions: yes/no and multiple choice
Closed questions restrict people to a set of answers. The Nielsen Norman Group's article on open-ended vs. closed questions notes they are used heavily in surveys because the answers can be analyzed statistically and they are much easier to answer than open-ended ones.
Pew Research Center's guide to writing survey questions sets the rules for the answer list: cover every reasonable answer, do not let options overlap, and for most opinion questions keep to four or perhaps five choices. For factual questions like job role or industry, longer lists are fine. Pew also notes that in self-administered surveys people tend to pick options near the top, so randomize lists that have no natural order. Keep ordered scales, like Excellent to Poor, in order.
Use closed questions for facts and recent behavior: what someone did, how often, with what tool.
Checkbox questions and the forced-choice alternative
"Select all that apply" is compact but less accurate than it looks. In a randomized Pew experiment with 4,581 U.S. adults, asking a separate yes/no question for each item produced endorsement rates that were, on average, 8 percentage points higher than a single checklist, and Pew concluded the forced-choice results were more accurate. People working through a checklist tend to select only some of what applies.
Two useful details from the same study: the rank order of items was nearly the same in both formats, so a checklist is acceptable if you only need to know which item is most common. And construct-specific answer labels ("Yes, have done this" / "No, have not done this") help counter the tendency to say yes.
Use separate yes/no questions when each item's share matters to your decision. Use a checklist when you only need a rough ordering.
Rating scales and Likert questions
Rating questions measure degree. GLG, an expert network that also runs surveys, describes several kinds of rating question: numeric scales such as 1-5 or 0-10, frequency scales from "Never" to "Always," comparison scales like "Better" to "Worse," and Likert agreement scales.
The key design rule, from NN/g's survey best practices, is balance: as many negative options as positive ones. NN/g also recommends a separate "Not applicable" option. Likert agreement questions have their own biases, covered in Likert scale questions.
Use rating scales when you need to know how strongly people feel about each item on its own. Their weakness is that two items can tie at the top and you cannot tell which people would choose.
Ranking questions
Ranking forces respondents to put options in order. GLG notes the limit: a ranking cannot show whether first and second place were nearly tied, or whether fourth place was far behind third. GLG suggests asking only for the top three (or bottom three) rather than a full order, and asking both a rating and a ranking when you need intensity and priority together.
Keep ranking lists short. Ordering ten items is tedious, especially on a phone; GLG says that even among expert survey participants, 30% to 40% take surveys on their phones.
Use ranking when the decision is "which of these first," such as which of three features to build.
Open-ended questions
Open-ended questions let people answer in their own words. Pew's election example shows why they matter: 58% picked the economy from a list, but only 35% named it unprompted, and 43% of unprompted answers named something not on the list. They are also costly: Pew's analysis of its panel found open-ended questions skipped about 18% of the time on average versus 1% to 2% for closed ones.
Use one or two, where you cannot predict the answers or want customers' own words. Open-ended survey questions has examples and a simple coding method.
A worked example: one survey, several types
This example is hypothetical. A founder building maintenance software for small property management firms needs to decide which problem to solve first. Their eight-question survey uses each format where it fits:
- Multiple choice: "About how many rental units does your firm manage?" (ranges, non-overlapping)
- Multiple choice: "How do tenants usually submit maintenance requests?" (options from five earlier calls, plus "Other")
- Yes/no series: "In the past 30 days, did any of these happen?" with a separate "Yes, this happened / No, this did not happen" for each of four problems
- Rating: "How well does your current process work for tracking repairs to completion?" Very well / Somewhat well / Not very well / Not at all well
- Ranking: "Of the problems you said happened, rank the top two by how much time they cost you."
- Open-ended, optional: "What would you change first about how your firm handles maintenance?"
- Yes/no: "May we contact you for a 20-minute follow-up call?"
- Multiple choice: role (at the end, following Pew's advice to hold demographic questions until later unless they are needed for screening)
Question 3 tells the founder how common each problem is. Question 5 tells them which ones hurt most. Neither alone would answer "which first."
Your next step
For each question in your draft, write what you need to learn from it (a category, a count, a degree, a priority or an unknown) and check that the format matches. Then read how to write survey questions and biased survey questions before you pretest.
When the survey leaves you with a "why," talk to people. Instant Expert can find people who match a description you write, such as maintenance coordinators at small property management firms. You review who it finds, it sends your invitations, and you pay only for calls that get booked. The directory page for procurement professionals in property management is one place to start.