Identify the advantages of open ended questions in survey research.

1.It is easy to process answers.

2.Respondents can answer in their own terms.

3.They enhance the comparability of answers.

4.They are useful for exploring new areas or ones in which the researcher has limited knowledge.

A1 & 2 only

B1, 2 & 3 only

C2, 3 & 4 only

D2 & 4 only ✓ Correct

Correct answer: (D) 2 & 4 only

Explanation

Open-ended questions let respondents answer in their own terms and are useful for exploring new or little-known areas.

Being easy to process answers is an advantage of closed, not open, questions.

Enhancing the comparability of answers is again a feature of closed questions with fixed categories.

Options carrying statement one or three therefore borrow closed-question strengths.

Open questions capture rich, unanticipated detail at the cost of harder coding.

They are especially valuable in the exploratory phase of a study.

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