title: Open-ended questions in surveys of patients' satisfaction with family doctors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare replies to open-ended and closed questions about patient satisfaction with family doctors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two centres of primary health care in Białystok in northeast Poland were chosen. A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to 1000 people (500 from each centre) aged 18 years and over, randomly selected from the practices. Possible responses to the one closed question were: very good, good, bad, very bad or difficult to say. Replies to two open-ended questions were categorized as positive, neutral, negative or ambivalent.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The response rate was 57.9%. There were some discrepancies between the closed-question response and the open-ended question replies. Some of those who replied good or very good to the closed question expressed negative views in response to the two open-ended questions (14.0% and 12.4%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Answers to open-ended questions add value to a patient satisfaction survey by providing information that answers to closed questions may not elicite.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of Białystok, Bialystok, Poland. marcinek@amb.edu.pl
authors.forename: Ludmiła
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Marcinowicz
authors.forename: Sławomir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chlabicz
authors.forename: Ryszard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Grebowski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005194:Family Practice / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011044:Poland; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires