Why are open-ended frequency necessary?

Answer 1

It gives you a way to quickly and effectively represent data.

Lets say you took a poll of 1000 people. You want to see how much money these people made. If you have a random sample, you most likely have a lot in the middle (say $50,000/year) - fewer on the low and high edges. You don't want to throw that data out...Lets also say that you had 5 college students in that poll. Lets say thier income is $1200, $2500, $3200, $4300, and $8100. You don't want to have a bracket from 1-1000, 1000-2000..and so on, because you don't gain much information. So you make a bracket $10,000 and under, to capture those 5 data points. Same with the hight end...Say $75,000 and above.

Answer 2

Open-ended questions allow respondents to provide detailed and in-depth responses, offering more insights and perspectives. They can help uncover new information, uncover patterns or trends in responses, and provide a more nuanced understanding of the topic being explored. This can be particularly useful in qualitative research or when exploring complex issues.