When should I use open text?

Open text asks one question and lets people answer in their own words. It fits anything you cannot reduce to a list or a number, like “What confused you about the flow?” or “Anything else we should know?”.

When to reach for it

Reach for open text when you want the reasons behind an answer, or when you cannot list the likely answers up front. If you can list them, Multiple choice is faster to read back. If you want a score, use a Rating scale. It also works well after a rating or a choice, where it gives you the thinking behind the number people picked.

Good to know

This is the most flexible question and the slowest to read back. There is no count and no average, only a list of written answers, so plan to read through them yourself or summarise them with a tool. You can set length limits to nudge people toward a short answer or a longer one.