Free-answer questions are so troublesome that banning them from full-scale surveys has been suggested. A recent experiment finds them inefficient and no more productive of depth or of valid answers than checkbox questions are. Their indicated use may be confined to the development and pretesting phases of surveys.
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References
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DohrenwendBarbara Snell, “Some Effects of Open and Closed Questions on Respondents' Answers,” Human Organization, 24 (Summer1965), 175–84.
2.
PayneStanley L., The Art of Asking Questions, Chapter 3, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1951.
