Introduction to the Possip Bonus Question

Learn more about the Bonus Question™ and how to use it to get feedback on specific topics in your community.

The Bonus Question

The Possip Bonus Question (BQ™) is a powerful tool to leverage when you have specific questions for your staff, families, or students. 

You may want to ask a Bonus Question about communication, academic support, a recent event, or more. When deciding how to ask a Bonus Question, you will want to consider what decisions you need to make with the information and how specifically you will use the answers. 

One key decision you'll want to make is whether to ask an open-ended question or a closed-ended one where you provide the answer choices.  When deciding between an open-ended or closed-ended question, it can be helpful to think about what you want to learn and the nuances of each question type:

• Do you want to explore a topic and generate a list of ideas or praise? If so, using an open-ended question will give you a lot of feedback and ideas.
  • Open-ended questions allow you to explore and you may learn more than you expected. People may share feedback or ideas that you didn't anticipate. This can be beneficial in helping you learn more about a topic. 
  • To be effective with open-ended questions, you'll want to ensure your question wording is very clear so that the answers provided serve your needs. 
• Do you need input on specific options or choices? Are there only certain answers that are feasible or relevant to your decision? In this case, a close-ended question that includes predefined answer options is best. 
  • Since close-ended questions ask people to select from a list of predefined responses, you won’t end up with answers that you weren’t expecting. Responses will be consistent and relevant to the question.
• Do you want a quantitative analysis? Closed-ended questions with a list of options or Yes/No answers are the most appropriate for a quick and clear analysis–a graph of your results at both a school and district level. 
  • Curious how this will look in your report? Click here to see a how-to find your district analysis. A similar graph is also displayed at the top of every school report as well. 
  • In some cases, Possip can help you get a quantitative analysis even from an open-ended question. Please reach out to your Possip Relationship Manager or our Possip Support Team to explore this option if you need to quantify open-ended input.

Possip has created a bank of sample Bonus Questions with suggestions based on topics or the time of year. You can view this list by clicking here.