Open-Ended Questions In Qualitative Research

Customer satisfaction is of great importance for many businesses. It is what distinguishes one business from the other usually in terms of the quality of goods or services. As competition between companies who offer similar services increases, they must take advantage of the distinction and make sure that in terms of everything including customer satisfaction, they are the front runners. Companies often seek this information through the use of surveys which involves the collection of data by having people answer a series of questions. These questions may be presented in the form of questionnaires or interviews. In this case, the survey was conducted through the use of questionnaires by the General Medical Council.
The survey which I had selected …show more content…
These are questions followed by a list of options, depending on the question, which the respondent is allowed to select from. It includes questions with multiple choices such as one where it asks “Which of the following best describes the reason you saw the doctor today?”. The provided answers are specific such as “To ask for advice”, “For treatment” or “For a routine check.” Due to the specific options, the choices are not very diverse therefore the option “Other” is offered providing they give details. There is only one instance where an open-ended question is used. Open-ended questions allow the respondents to answer in their own words. This asks the respondent to “Please add any other comments you want to make about this doctor.” The fact that the survey includes more close-ended questions than open ended questions may indicate that the person conducting the survey is looking for particular set of results or answers. The questionnaire does include a few biased questions such as where it asks “I am confident about this doctor’s ability to provide care.” And the only available answers are yes or no. This is the same case for the next question “I would be completely happy to see this doctor again.” In both of these cases, the question leans more towards the biased side because the answers presented do not allow the respondent to express their own opinions and they will be compelled to go with the positive …show more content…
In this case, the participants are the patients and the research setting would be the doctor’s office. The researcher or the person conducting the interview can observe the reactions to different doctors and come to a conclusion on how the patients react to them. In this case the question “How good was your doctor today?” where it examines things such as politeness, listening to you and making you feel at ease would be determined cues such as body language or conversation between the doctor and patient. This is not as reliable