DB Design Question - Survey System

I've written several survey systems in which the majority of the questions
have the same or similar responses (Yes/No, True/False, scale of 1 - 5,
etc).

But this latest survey system I'm working on has 8-10 sections, with a
variety of question attributes and answer scales. Some items have just a
description and require a Yes/No answer, others have a description and an
active status and require a Yes/No and price answer, some require a comment,
etc.

Rather than build a separate response table for each survey section, I was
thinking of building one generic response table, and trying to force all
sections to fit by adding columns - some of which won't apply to some items.
Like this:

Survey Category (will apply to all items)
Survey Section (will apply to all items)
Item Description (will apply to all items)
Item YN (will apply to all items)
Item Price (will apply to about 10% of the items)
Item Points (will apply to about 10% of the items)
Item Active YN (will apply to about 10% of the items)
Item Fail YN (will apply to about 10% of the items)
Item Comment (will apply to about 10% of the items)

For instance, in the structure above the field "Item YN" would represent
multiple types of answers: is the item in use?, is the item in place?, is
the item given away for free?, is the item on display?, etc. Basically,
anywhere a Yes/No answer is used.

The advantage is one source table (rather than 8) for storing answers, and
it might be easier to query and report on.

The disadvantages I see are 1) it's more difficult to understand the meaning
of the responses when the answer field is named Item YN, and 2) you have a
non-normalized table that's difficult for a 3rd party to understand.

If I have the questions and responses in separate tables, I'll use names
like "ItemComplimentaryYN" and "ItemUsedYN" depending on the question. It's
easier for others to learn the data.

I actually don't like the "generic" approach, and probably won't use it, but
I figured I'd try to get some input from others who've written survey
systems.

Thanks