Dichotomous questions belong to a family of close-ended questions. These questions provide only two possible answer options, presented in survey forms with either true/false, agree/disagree, and yes or no answers. When planning survey questions, there would be times when direct answers are required quickly. This is where dichotomous questions come to play.
Here is an in-depth look at dichotomous, its applications, pros and cons, and some relevant examples.
By definition, dichotomy refers to something having two parts. In the same vein, dichotomous quotations have two responses. The most prominent reactions to dichotomous questions are the yes or no answers.
Dichotomous questions refer to close-ended questions that can only be responded to by two possible answers.
The answers to dichotomous questions are either: Yes/No, Fair/Unfair, or Agree/Disagree.
Dichotomous questions do not give room for ambiguity, and answers are usually direct and clear to everyone on which side the individual responding belongs. Dichotomous questions are also used to distinguish between the opinions of two or more people and are often found in questionnaires or surveys.
Dichotomous questions are closed-ended questions that do not allow for further explanations. The responses are clear-cut. For example: Have you visited the mall before? Answer: Yes or No.
On the other hand, multiple questions are open-ended or close-ended questions that require a participant to choose a response from a wide range of predetermined options.
For example: What is your favorite color?
a)Blue, b)pink, c)yellow, d) all of the above.
1. HR: A dichotomous question can explain why an employee leaves during an employee exit interview. For example: Would you work in this organization again if things improve? Yes/No
The direct response style of this kind of question would show clearly, that an employee is not pleased with the workplace for whatever reasons.
2. Marketing Research: Dichotomous questions can help marketers gather the correct information about their target audience and provide insight.
Examples of dichotomous questions for this niche are:
Targeted marketing questions can help marketers find answers that would amplify marketing efforts.
3. Education: During educational surveys, dichotomous questions can be pretty helpful. It can help collate feedback from pupils on their satisfaction and review their tutor’s performance. It can also be used to ascertain if learning occurred after a class.
4. Event Management: Event surveys are vital in event planning and management, and dichotomous questions are essential to letting organizers understand areas of strength and areas where further improvement would be appreciated.
In scenarios like this, you could employ dichotomous questions and assess first-time attendees and returning clients to get more knowledgeable feedback.
Questions like;
Read: Forced Choice Question: Meaning, Scale + [Survey Examples]
We have defined dichotomous questions and provided some examples. However, it is essential to understand the benefits and disadvantages of adopting dichotomous questions to ensure maximum results.
Let’s take a look at the 5 advantages of Dichotomous questions.
Here are 5 disadvantages of dichotomous questions
Dichotomous questions are helpful in surveys generally. They are also effective in getting feedback about a product and can be used in distinguishing between first-time users, returning buyers, and clients who have never purchased a product. It can also identify a buyer persona who fits your target audience closely.
However, there are 2 major ways to employ the use of the dichotomous question.
1. Survey Screening: This is an ideal way to use dichotomous questions. At the beginning of a survey, it can filter and help you identify the most relevant participant for your survey effort. This, in turn, would amplify your data quality and ultimately impact your result positively.
2. Clarity: If the aim is clarity, adopt dichotomy, as they are an excellent way to get clear insight on a range of topics. For instance, if the focus is an educational survey, you can tell outrightly if a participant has undergone this kind of training through the yes/no answer options. The same applies to product surveys.
Dichotomous questions can to used to simplify Instances that require the use of dichotomous survey questions, including the following;
1. Customer Satisfaction: To gauge customer satisfaction after interacting with your web or mobile app.
In a nutshell, it can be used to measure customer experience across all touchpoints of interaction with your brand during the customer service journey.
2. Health Care Survey: To conduct health care surveys and check if a patient is pleased with a service. It can also be used to retrieve patients’ medical history, as there is no middle ground for such instances; clarity is essential here to a successful diagnosis and treatment. For example,
3. Training Evaluation: At the end of employee training or any other kind of training, dichotomous questions can be used to conduct the first-level evaluation of the activity undertaken. This would provide insightful feedback and ensure an improvement in the overall training subsequently. So it can;
4. Marketing Reach: Dichotomous questions can generate reports on marketing activities and measure investment return. For example, if a marketing campaign is conducted via social media channels like Twitter/Instagram and targets specific demography of users. Questions like this would help marketers identify the effectiveness of their efforts and provide clarity on how much they were able to reach their target audience.
5. Personality Assessments: Dichotomous questions are part of the group of questions used for personality assessment tests by HR professionals. For example, When you work in a room, you are most likely to say hello to everyone with a smile? Answer Agree/Disagree
Explore: How to Create Personality Quizzes using Forms (+ 20 Examples for Quiz Builders)
These kinds of questions are aimed at understanding the employee’s temperament, as this would help HR managers pair the right mix of people in a team to help meet organizational goals.
Dichotomous questions provide clarity on the next steps. However, there are several factors to consider when adopting this form of a question. Hence it is essential to understand the aim or goal of any research, as this would ensure that your responses are valuable and can help you achieve optimal results.
When applied to the correct scenario, Dichotomous questions can provide straightforward answers that give valuable insights into participants’ opinions, perceptions, and experiences.
Overall dichotomous questions are easy on survey participants, as it helps them choose the best answers without going through a long list of unrelated information. It is an easy way to garner data from participants, as they are more responsive to a dichotomous approach in questioning.
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