The Synergistic Potential of Combining Open-and Closed-Ended Survey Items on EFL Education Research

The Synergistic Potential of Combining Open-and Closed-Ended Survey Items on EFL Education Research

This paper mainly focuses on the following two points. One, to date, in EFL education research in Korea, survey studies have had a strong tendency to utilize closed-ended items while excluding or under-utilizing open-ended ones. Two, in the light of the abovementioned situation, it is argued that combining open-ended items and closed-ended ones in surveys has the potential to create a synergistic effect on EFL education research in Korea. The paper presents background information pertinent to the issues, focusing on illustrations and explanations of problematic survey items taken from actual studies. Suggestions are made for ways to improve the methodological design of surveys by combining the two types of survey items. A summary offers a synthesis of the issues.