What is the effect of asking more specific questions first in a survey or questionnaire on the user?
It seems like conventional wisdom suggests asking more general questions first in a survey or questionnaire to help frame the context of the research to the user (e.g. what is your overall impression of 'x'), which allows you to hone in on more specific details in latter questions. This creates a logical flow or progression from the questions at the beginning through to the end by allow you to focus on each specific area (e.g. what is your impression of 'x' in scenario '1') and would appear to be a sensible approach to ease the user into the questions.
However, given that there is also the effect of fatigue and loss of concentration towards the end of the survey, leaving the more detailed and complex questions at the end could also result in lower quality responses. This is generally seen when an open-ended question is placed right at the end of a survey (e.g. "Is there anything else you would like to add?").
I would like to know if it is also common to design the survey or questionnaire so that you ask more specific questions upfront and towards the end you ask more general/summary questions, so that you can get good quality answers about detail information and also for users to be able to reflect on the responses they have provided in order to answer the summary questions.
Is the effect or impact of asking specific questions towards the beginning of the survey not ideal? What is the effect on the user compared to asking general questions at the beginning? I would be interested in any research or insights from personal experience.