Multiple Choice Questions

Types of Multiple-Choice Questions

Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) come in various formats depending on the purpose of the survey or test. Whether you’re evaluating a student’s knowledge, gauging customer satisfaction, or gathering data for research, the structure of your MCQs will vary based on what you’re aiming to achieve. In educational settings, MCQs typically feature one correct answer and several distractors, helping assess the accuracy of knowledge. Meanwhile, in research and feedback surveys, multiple-choice questions often have no 'right' or 'wrong' answer; instead, they seek to identify trends, preferences, or perceptions from a range of possible answers.

Given their versatility, MCQs can be adapted to fit a wide array of contexts—from customer satisfaction surveys to employee engagement assessments. The key is selecting the right type of multiple-choice question to match your research goals. Below, we explore the various formats you can use, each with its unique benefits for data collection and analysis.

Single Select Options

Single select multiple-choice questions are the most common format, where participants choose only one answer from a list of available options. This format is ideal when you want to narrow responses down to one clear choice. It’s widely used in quizzes and surveys when there's a definitive answer, or when only one response is necessary. Single select questions are often used in research to gather precise, unambiguous data, making it easier to analyze trends or preferences.

For example, in a customer feedback survey, a single select question might ask participants to choose their satisfaction level with a service, ranging from "Very Satisfied" to "Very Dissatisfied." The simplicity of this format ensures that responses are easily quantifiable, enabling researchers to generate clear, actionable insights from the data.

Multiple Select Options / Checkboxes

Multiple select questions (also known as checkboxes) allow respondents to choose more than one answer from a list of options. These are particularly useful when participants may have multiple preferences or experiences. The phrase "select all that apply" is often used to indicate that more than one response is acceptable. This format is commonly used in market research surveys where respondents might need to select multiple reasons for a purchase decision, or in employee surveys where participants may indicate several factors influencing their satisfaction at work.

Multiple select questions offer a more nuanced understanding of participant responses by capturing a broader range of feedback, making them highly effective for gathering detailed insights.

Dichotomous Questions

Dichotomous questions are one of the simplest types of multiple-choice questions, offering just two possible answers—such as "Yes" or "No," "True" or "False," or "Agree" or "Disagree." These questions are highly effective for collecting straightforward, binary data. They're commonly used in research methodology when you need clear, decisive answers without ambiguity. Dichotomous questions are often included in satisfaction surveys, decision-making processes, and even Likert scale surveys, helping to establish quick, actionable insights.

Matrix Questions

Matrix questions allow you to present several multiple-choice questions simultaneously in a grid format, making it easier to collect data on a series of related topics in one go. Participants are typically asked to select one response per row, making this format particularly efficient for gathering feedback on multiple items at once. Matrix questions are frequently used in healthcare satisfaction surveys and educational assessments where it's important to evaluate several aspects of a service or program in a streamlined way.

Linear Response Questions / Sliding Scale Questions

Linear response (or sliding scale) questions ask respondents to rate their answer by sliding a point along a continuum. This format is especially useful when you want to measure degrees of opinion or satisfaction. For instance, in a client satisfaction survey, respondents might be asked to rate their satisfaction on a scale from 1 to 10. This question type provides a more granular view of participant opinions, giving you a clearer understanding of where your respondents stand on a particular issue.

Visual / Image Multiple-Choice Questions

Visual multiple-choice questions incorporate images as response options instead of text. This format is popular in social media quizzes and feedback forms where images can convey answers more effectively than words. For example, in a post-event survey, participants might select an image that best represents their overall experience at the event. Visual questions are particularly effective when engaging with respondents who may prefer non-verbal methods of expression, making surveys more inclusive and interactive.

Rank Order Questions

A rank order multiple choice question involves a participant ranking the provided options against one another, in order to provide an indication of preference. For these questions, all options may be listed, and participants will need to type the corresponding number in the space provided, or a ‘drag and drop’ option could be used.

How to write multiple choice questions

The following helpful hint will help you in designing excellent multiple choice questions:

1. Keep the aim of your survey research in mind when writing. This will ensure that the questions you include are relevant to your survey – each question should have a specific purpose or relate to a specific part of the aim. This will make sure that the data you obtain helps you address your research question.
2. Write the question and response options clearly and in a neutral tone. Questions should be written clearly so that participants can easily understand what it is that you’re asking. Using clear and concise language will also help avoid ambiguity or potentially confusing your participant. A neutral tone and no leading phrasing should be used to help avoid potential bias.
3. Write concisely. Detail should be used where appropriate, however because multiple choice questions contain several response options that will all need to be read, keeping the question and the list of response options as short as feasible will help reduce burden on the participants.
4. Choose an appropriate format. The ultimate format of the multiple-choice questions you use is up to you as researchers, however some formats will be better suited to some questions compared to others. For example, if you have a question and no others like it, a single-select format may be appropriate. However, if you have a series of similar questions, to avoid repetition and adding length to your survey a matrix format may be a better option. Relatedly, when entering your response options, it’s often useful to randomise the order in which you present them. If the most common or most likely answers are always presented first, participants will tend to select them and then disregard the rest of the list. However, if they are randomised this increases the likelihood of the participants reading the whole list and responding accordingly.
5. Keep the number of response options balanced. While there is no real limit to the number of response options, response lists are preferably kept short to reduce burden and avoid overwhelming participants with choice. However, you will need to balance this by ensuring that there is enough of a range in your list of response options. It’s important that, while you include the answers that you as researchers think are most likely, that you include the opposites or related ones in order to capture differing opinions and reduce bias towards certain options.

Research considerations

Multiple choice questions are often a good choice for large-scale research because they are easier to administer and analyse, particularly for studies that are primarily based on number-based questionnaires or surveys. This is because participants only need to consider and select from one or more of the options provided to them, rather than having participants come up with a possible answer themselves. Providing the same set of responses is also helpful in creating a degree of consistency in your sample.

However, with multiple-choice questions it’s important to keep in mind that it may be difficult to reduce the range of possible answers you include to a select handful, particularly when the range of answers or options is large. Further, because participants have to choose from answers that are predetermined by you as researchers, this may promote a degree of bias in participant responses because the options are what you expect the participant’s answers to be. Therefore, where practical, it’s always a good idea for multiple choice questions to have an extra option at the end providing participants with a space to self-identify their answer if it isn’t one of the options listed.

Helpful References

Brame, C. (2013) Writing good multiple choice test questions.