use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dump::Streamer;

my @questions;
my %pending;

for (qw(first second)) {
     $pending{answer} = $_;
     push @questions, %pending;
}

Dump \@questions;

##</code><code>##

$ARRAY1 = [
            'answer',
            'first',
            'answer',
            'second'
          ];

##</code><code>##

my @questions;

for (qw(first second)) {
     my %pending;
     $pending{answer} = $_;
     push @questions, \%pending;
}

Dump \@questions;

##</code><code>##

$ARRAY1 = [
            { answer => 'first' },
            { answer => 'second' }
          ];