Closed and Open-Ended Question Tools in a Telephone Survey About ``The Good Teacher''

Abstract

Combining diverse methods in a single study raises a problem: What should be done when the findings of one method of investigation conflict with those of another? We illustrate this problem using an example in which three study phases—quantitative, qualitative, and intervention—were applied. The findings coming from the quantitative phase did not fit those coming from the qualitative phase; there were discrepancies within the qualitative phase itself, and the findings coming from single-case evaluations of the intervention using standardized scales did not fit the findings derived from self-made scales. We explain these inconsistencies by way of the complementary approach: conflicting findings should be integrated, and consistency is restored by admitting complexity in the phenomenon under investigation.

Beauty, memories and symbolic meaning: Swedish student teachers´ views of their favourite plant and animal

“…The role of open-ended questions Arnon and Reichel (2009) found that their open-ended questions were more effective in revealing participants' 'authentic perceptions and beliefs' (191) than their closed questions, and that binary coding of qualitative data enabled suitable descriptive and inferential statistical procedures. Similarly, Reja et al (2003) argue that the advantage of open-ended questions is that they allow for discovering responses that individuals give spontaneously, thus avoiding the bias resulting from suggesting the answers to individuals, which is typical of close-ended questions.…”

School counselors' use of the combination social storiesTM and video modeling intervention for social skills development of students diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders

“…(Lincoln & Guba, as cited in Swartz, The description of how these assumptions are applied to this study follows. (Arnon & Reichel, 2009). Since participants valued different characteristics of an intervention, reality as it was seen in multiple ways by the participants, created a holistic, co-constructed picture of the intervention when all of these perceptions were analyzed together.…”

The applicability and transferability of public health research from one setting to another: a survey of maternal health researchers

“…That there were differences between responses to the open-ended and closed questions is not unheard of (27)(28)(29). Such differences may be because they elicit different aspects of responses (27).…”