Do you know the difference between 'Other' and 'N/A' in surveys?

When designing survey questions, 'Other' and 'N/A' serve very different purposes. Mixing them up leads to messy data.

'Other' means "my answer exists but isn't listed." The respondent has a valid answer - you just didn't include it as a predefined option. It's common to pair this with a free-text field.

'N/A' means "this question doesn't apply to me." The respondent isn't choosing a different answer - the entire question is irrelevant to them.

❌ Figure: Bad example - Someone who loves Next.js has no option, and a backend dev who doesn't use frontend frameworks is forced to pick one or skip the question

✅ Figure: Good example - 'Other' lets the Next.js fan tell you their answer, 'N/A' lets the backend dev opt out cleanly