--- title: "Open-ended questions: meaning, examples and analysis" description: "What open-ended questions are, how they differ from closed ones, 5 survey examples, and how to code free-text answers into themes you can count." url: https://askyo.ru/en/question-types/long-text lang: en last_modified: 2026-09-27 --- 1. [Home](https://askyo.ru/en) 2. [Question types](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types) 3. Open-ended questions Question type # Open-ended questions An open-ended question is a survey question with no answer options: the respondent writes a reply in their own words. It captures reasons, stories and vocabulary you did not anticipate, at the cost of slower answers and manual analysis. In Askyo it is the Long answer block, a multi-line text field. Available on the free plan [Build a survey with this question ](https://app.askyo.ru/build)[Survey templates](https://askyo.ru/en/templates) ## Open vs closed-ended questions A closed question hands people your categories. An open one lets them bring theirs. That single difference decides everything downstream: closed answers are counted, open answers are read. | | Open-ended | Closed-ended | | -------------- | --------------------- | ------------------------------ | | Answer | Free text | Pick from a list | | Time to answer | 30 seconds to minutes | A few seconds | | Analysis | Reading and coding | Counting | | Finds | The unexpected | How often the expected happens | Most good surveys mix both. A closed rating tells you how many people are unhappy; the open follow-up tells you why. ## Open-ended question examples - What almost stopped you from signing up today? - If you could change one thing about the onboarding, what would it be? - Describe the last time our product saved you time. - What would you use instead if this service disappeared tomorrow? - Anything else you want the organisers to know before the event? Notice the pattern: each one asks about something specific and recent. “Any feedback?” gets a blank box or “all good”. ## When to use an open question, and when not to Use it early in research, when you do not yet know the answer options. Use it right after a low score, when the reason matters more than the number. And use it at the end of a survey as a safety valve for whatever your options missed. Skip it when you already know the categories and need numbers: a list of five known reasons is faster for respondents and gives a clean chart. Two or three open questions in a row on a phone is where completion drops, because typing on a small keyboard is real effort. ## How to analyse open-ended responses 1. Read 30 to 50 answers without taking notes, to get the shape. 2. Draft 5 to 10 codes (themes), each with a one-line definition. 3. Tag every answer with one or more codes; add a code only when three or more answers need it. 4. Count the codes and quote two typical answers per code in the report. The result is a table of themes with frequencies, which reads like a closed question but was built from what people actually said. ## Mistakes that kill free-text answers - Making the field required. People type “-” or leave the survey. - A one-line box for a question that needs a paragraph: the size of the field tells people how much to write. - Asking two things at once (“what did you like and what should we fix?”), which gets half an answer. - Collecting hundreds of answers with no plan to read them. ## Building it in Askyo Add a Long answer block. It opens as a five-row text area; you can change the number of rows, set a placeholder hint and a maximum length. With a limit set, the respondent sees a live “n / max” counter under the field. There is no minimum length. In analytics the block shows the share of positive, neutral and negative answers, the average answer length, a word cloud and sample responses. The CSV export keeps the full text in one column, ready for coding in a spreadsheet. What you can set - hint inside the empty field - answer length limit - matrix rows ## Templates that already use it - «Describe exactly what happened» [Feedback form](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/feedback-form) [Feedback](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/feedback) - «Or write it down instead» [NPS: loyalty index](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/nps-classic) [Feedback](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/feedback) - «Share the details» [CSAT: support ticket rating](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/csat-support) [Feedback](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/feedback) - «What are you missing?» [Product review](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/product-feedback) [Feedback](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/feedback) - «Describe the job in your own words» [Client questionnaire](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/anketa-client) [Leads and contacts](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/lead) - «Tell us briefly what you need» [Service booking](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/booking) [Leads and contacts](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/lead) - «Describe what you need» [B2B lead form](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/lead-b2b) [Leads and contacts](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/lead) - «Message» [Contact form](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/contact) [Leads and contacts](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/lead) - «Special requests» [Rental / booking for a period](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/booking-period) [Leads and contacts](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/lead) - «Describe the remarks in writing» [Work acceptance / site visit](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/field-inspection) [Leads and contacts](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/lead) - «Tell us about yourself, briefly» [Candidate questionnaire](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/anketa-candidate) [HR and team](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/hr) - «What would you like to discuss with your manager?» [Team pulse survey](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/team-pulse) [HR and team](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/hr) - «What should we improve first?» [eNPS: employee loyalty](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/enps) [HR and team](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/hr) - «What would you improve about onboarding?» [New hire onboarding](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/onboarding) [HR and team](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/hr) - «What should the teacher know about your child's wellbeing?» [First-grade parent questionnaire](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/parents-first-grade) [Education](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/education) - «What worries you? What would you like to discuss with the teacher?» [Settling into kindergarten](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/kindergarten-adaptation) [Education](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/education) - «What would you change about the school?» [Parent satisfaction with the school](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/school-satisfaction) [Education](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/education) - «Your suggestions about school meals» [School meals survey](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/school-meals) [Education](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/education) - «What should the teacher keep doing?» [Feedback for the class teacher](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/class-teacher-feedback) [Education](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/education) - «Which club is missing?» [Clubs and after-school activities: interest survey](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/extracurricular-interest) [Education](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/education) - «What training would help you?» [Staff assessment test with scoring](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/staff-certification) [Education](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/education) - «What should we improve?» [Event feedback](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/event-feedback) [Events](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/event) - «Which three things would you fix first?» [UX interface research](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/ux-research) [Research](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/research) - «What annoys you about most competitors?» [Customer expectations](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/customer-expectations) [Research](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/research) - «What would you like to change about your lifestyle?» [Health questionnaire](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/health-survey) [Research](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/research) - «What annoys you about the services you use now?» [In-depth market research](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/market-research-deep) [Research](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/research) - «Why this one?» [Vote: pick an option](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/voting-choice) [Voting](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/voting) - «Anything else you would suggest?» [Residents’ vote](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/voting-residents) [Voting](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/voting) Frequently asked questions ## Open-ended questions: common questions What is an example of an open-ended question? “What almost stopped you from buying today?” is open-ended: there are no options, and the answer comes in the customer’s own words. The closed version would list reasons such as price, delivery time and missing features, and ask the person to pick one. How many open-ended questions should a survey have? Usually one or two. Place them after a related closed question, so the person already has a context, and keep them optional. A survey made mostly of open questions is an interview in disguise and loses many respondents on mobile. Are open-ended questions qualitative or quantitative? The raw answers are qualitative. Once you code them into themes and count how many answers fall into each theme, you get quantitative data you can compare between groups or survey waves. ## Neighbouring types - [Closed-ended questions](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types/single-choice) - [Long survey UX](https://askyo.ru/en/blog/long-survey-ux) - [Feedback form](https://askyo.ru/en/feedback-form) - [Text block](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types/statement) - [Consent](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types/consent) - [Single choice](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types/single-choice) - [Matrix](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types/matrix) - [Short answer](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types/short-text) - [Multiple choice](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types/multi-choice) - [All question types](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types) ## Build a survey with this question Add one well-placed open question after your rating and read what your customers actually say. [Build a survey ](https://app.askyo.ru/build)[Survey templates](https://askyo.ru/en/templates)