We take surveys everywhere. Customer satisfaction surveys, public interest polls, ethnographic interviews (oh right, social science students only), and ones for downright entertainment, like the askmen.com 100 Hottest Women survey. We even take online quizzes on Facebook for fun, seeing what Woody Allen movie best describes our personality, and what High School stereotype we were (I, apparently, was a nerd).

Generally, for those in the know about survey research methods, there are two types of questions: closed-ended and open-ended. Closed-ended questions are those with a concrete selection of answers to choose from, and are better suited for when quantitative statistical results are desired. Any multiple choice survey, or one with gradations like Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree (known as the Likert Scale) are two examples of closed-ended surveys. In contrast, an open-ended survey doesn’t provide answer selections, letting the person at hand able to fully disclose details in conversation or the written form. Obviously, we use surveys for many things, but aside from the research and entertainment purposes, surveys are downright helpful at times, and can definitely sway a person one way or another based on majority rule.

When needing to either create or consult a survey in a pinch, A or B is a closed-ended survey app by Drive By the Son that links you to a community of A or B users who pose questions and answer others. A or B is certainly customizable in the sense that you may type in any question to be answered, and then choose whether you’d like the whole world to see it, or just your friends, or if you’d like to pose the questions to users only within your state or country, but it’s fairly limiting otherwise. The survey method is extraordinarily straightforward, offering a truly closed-ended deal, the two options of A or B glaring up at you with their black and white eyes. There are no shades of gray in the world of A or B, and the choice you make is solid as can be, regardless of whatever misgivings you may have. After going blind from reading through the exhausting Terms of Agreement, and after registering, you’re free to ask questions without abandon (well, if you read the Terms of Agreement, it’s definitely not without abandon).

If you tap on the “Answer Questions” tab on the main screen, you’ll be taken to a page listing 10 questions, any of which you’re free to answer or ignore, with a percentage breakdown shedding light of the results. The questions posed by A or B members are fairly run-of-the-mill, conversational questions like,  “Do you like country music?”, “Which holiday do you like better?”, “Do you want to have kids?” However, some users spice it up a bit by inserting pictures as answers (for the holiday question, I have a choice between an autumn leaf and pumpkin decorated autumn card for Thanksgiving, and a cheery red card with golden stars and loopy cursive font for Christmas), or by posing funny or outlandish answers to their questions. Apparently, 90% of A or B users agree that Kanye is a “douchebag”; of course, only 20 people answered the question (somehow I think many, many people think him a douchebag, and even before he humiliated and degraded poor Taylor Swift during her award speech as the VMAs). For some questions – and there were quite a few – I was the only one answering, so for an idle second or two I would think to myself, “gee, 100% of people agree with me? That can’t be right.”

The app’s interface is nothing to write home about. The background looks to be a magnified image of one of those tiny dotted screens covering stereo speakers, and the questions, when written or answered, are all shown in teeny tiny white writing on a black background. I already discussed the problems with white font on black backgrounds, but in A or B, the writing can often be blurry after looking at the screen for too long, answering so many questions, and the transparent box containing the words shows the dotted screen background, further hampering visibility. Perhaps, if the font were larger, this issue would be abated. After griping with this for awhile – I was having fun answering questions for my own tickled amusement: Yes, I prefer Jessica Alba with glam red lips over her natural brown lipstick – I was bemused to see the question, “Do you think A or B should change its chain-link design, Yes or No?” Guess I’m not the only one.

A or B is great if you want to pose questions just for the fun of it, so your friends may answer and find out if, yes, Ocie totally channels an urban lumberjack, or if the moustache will make a comeback (I’ll say no…). Strictly for fun, don’t use this for a statistical overview of your thesis in your senior seminar in Research Methods in Sociology. Of course, if you made it that far, then you probably know that already.

For those of you interested in trying out A or B for free, your treat from Appstruck, please use the promo codes generously provided for us by Drive By The Son.

Promotion Codes:

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*When using the promotion code to download for free, it’s on a first-come, first-served basis. Out of courtesy, please leave a comment below mentioning you’ve used the promotion code.