In the early '80s, when I was in University, studying for a Marketing course, I had to design a questionnaire, for the Marketing Project that was part of the course. My Professor, Mr Tarun Gupta, encouraged us to use 'open' questions, not 'closed' ones. That is when I came upon this classification.
An 'open' question is one where the person answering is allowed to answer with no restrictions.
e.g. Where did you spend your summer vacations?
Which is your favourite actor?
A closed question is when the person answering is asked to choose from a list of choices
e.g. Do you like hockey or tennis?
The person answering may like neither and may yet feel forced to choose. Not an ideal situation for both the questioner and the respondent.
In life, you get a mix of these questions. When you are just getting to know a person or doing an exploratory survey, open-ended questions may be the best way to learn about a person/persons.
When you already have some degree of acquaintance with someone and you want to know which is his or her preference then you can use closed-ended questions.
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