Closed-ended questions should be one-dimensional. That is, they should ask about one and only one topic at a time. Questions that use more that one dimension are called “double-barreled”
Double-barreled questions often leave the respondent with no way to respond accurately. Take this question for example:
Do you think your manager is friendly and honest?
O Yes
O No
Although only two response options are offered (“Yes” or “No”), there are actually four possible responses to this question:
- I think my manager is both friendly and honest
- I think my manager is neither friendly nor honest
- I think my manager is friendly but not honest
- I think my manager is honest but not friendly
Because of the double-barreled nature of the question, the respondent can be put in a situation where she has to select one of the response options provided, even though neither may accurately represent her opinion.
In this example, the double-barreled question could have been avoided by using two questions instead of only one:
- “Do you think your manager is friendly?”
O Yes
O No- “Do you think your manager is honest?”
O Yes
O No
The bottom line: To avoid the common mistake of asking double-barreled questions, make sure that each question in your survey asks about one and only one topic at a time.
