Why has Google started asking questions when reviewing apps in Play Store?

Question

I went to review an app today after receiving help from the dev and after selecting the star rating I was then asked three questions about the app. "Does the app have whiteboards?", "Does the app allow you to make checklists?", "Does the app have online storage?", with options, "No", "Don't know" and "Yes" for each. After that I was able to write the review. The app was just a fun app that measures vibration, comparing it to earthquake intensity, so none of the questions are relevant.

I checked a couple of other apps. One didn't ask any questions, the other did but the questions were different and more relevant to the app.

I have not been able to find info on this. Does anyone know why Google are doing this and how they decide the questions? Would also be interested in knowing when they started doing this.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Since Aug 2016, Google has been testing a new feature called "Top Features" of an app.

Android Police reported,

[...] it seems that Google has begun testing another change in the same arena - Top Features, a new element that aims to make determining what functionality an app has easier. [...] Top Features is situated above Review Highlights and contains user feedback about certain abilities of the reviewed app.

How Google gets this data is by crowdsourcing it to reviewers (similar to how Google Maps crowdsourced maps improvements)

In addition, the reviewing process has been tweaked. [...] The new process asks reviewers ^{(up to)} three questions about the app. Basically, Google will ask if x function is available in the app; if it is, you give a thumbs up; if it isn't, you give a thumbs down; and if you're unsure, you click "Not Sure". The process itself is pretty straightforward, but it is unclear how exactly Google comes up with these questions; all we know is that they eventually contribute to Top Features.

^{(Emphasis mine)}

As reported, it's unclear how Google comes up with the questions. It could be from app's manifest (e.g requires internet connection or not), or from app's category (e.g. social network, etc), ...