Two studies investigated the effect of the placement of open-ended questions, relative to multiple-choice questions, on the responses elicited. Both studies found that positionings at both the beginning and the end of a predominantly multiple-choice questionnaire elicited significantly more responses than did either placement alone. When the two positions were used singly, the one at the beginning was found to elicit more discrete ideas and response categories. This was true for black samples and white samples and for different questionnaire topics and lengths.