Best questions for citizen survey about flooding and drainage issues

Here are some of the best questions for a citizen survey about flooding and drainage issues, alongside tips for designing thoughtful surveys. You can generate a survey like this with Specific in seconds, capturing the insights you need with ease and depth.

Best open-ended questions for citizen survey about flooding and drainage issues

Open-ended questions help people express their experiences in their own words, giving us richer data and surfacing insights we might not expect. They’re ideal when we want detailed stories, diverse viewpoints, or to identify patterns that numbers alone can’t show. Especially with flooding and drainage issues—where concerns run deep—open-ended questions let us hear the real challenges citizens face.

Here are 10 of the best open-ended questions to ask in your survey:

1. Can you describe a time when flooding impacted you or your property?

2. What concerns you most about drainage issues in your area?

3. What steps have you or your community taken to address flooding in recent years?

4. How prepared do you feel your neighborhood is for major flooding events?

5. What changes, if any, have you noticed in local flood patterns over the past few years?

6. What sources of information or support do you rely on when flooding occurs?

7. What challenges have you faced in reporting or resolving drainage problems?

8. If you could suggest one improvement for local flood management, what would it be?

9. How has flooding affected your work, schooling, or daily routines?

10. Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience with local flooding or drainage issues?

In recent years, concern about these issues has dramatically increased—64% of Americans now believe stormwater has a negative impact on their community, with 60% expressing doubts about the infrastructure in place to manage it, reflecting a 9% increase from last year [1]. Pairing open-ended questions with up-to-date statistics helps highlight how vital good qualitative data is for real-world progress.

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for citizen survey about flooding and drainage issues

Single-select multiple-choice questions are super helpful when you need structured data to quantify opinions, priorities, or problems. They’re perfect at the start of a survey—or after an open-ended icebreaker—because sometimes people find it easier to click than to write. Plus, these can spark the conversation and give you an easy way to dive deeper with tailored follow-ups.

Question: How often do you experience flooding in your home or neighborhood?

• Never

• Rarely (once every few years)

• Sometimes (once or twice a year)

• Frequently (several times a year)

Question: In your opinion, how effective are current drainage systems in your area?

• Very effective

• Somewhat effective

• Not effective

• Not sure

Question: Which of the following issues concerns you most regarding local flooding?

• Damage to property

• Traffic and transportation disruptions

• Health and safety risks

• Environmental impact

• Other

When to follow up with “why?” It’s smart to dig deeper if someone selects a strong opinion ("Not effective") or something surprising ("Other"). Ask “why?” to reveal the story behind the choice. For example, after someone says they’re concerned about environmental impact, you might follow up: “Can you tell us more about the specific environmental concerns you have because of local flooding?” This adds depth to the raw numbers.

When and why to add the “Other” choice? Always consider adding “Other”—when you’re not certain you’ve covered every experience, or your audience is diverse. Then, a follow-up box can capture unexpected pain points or ideas, providing insights you might otherwise miss.

In Poland, for example, 63% of people see the need to regulate rainwater and snowmelt, yet 45% admit to knowing little about solutions [5]. Questions with an “Other” field create space for those unknowns.

Using NPS-style questions for flooding and drainage surveys

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) approach isn’t just for companies. With flooding and drainage issues—where trust and satisfaction with local management really matter—it can be powerful. By asking, “How likely are you to recommend your local community’s flood preparedness to a friend or neighbor?” on a scale from 0 to 10, you instantly quantify public confidence or frustration, and can follow up with “why” to unpack the scores.

NPS is quick to answer, universally understood, and gives you a clear benchmark to track changes over time within your community. You can instantly generate an NPS survey for citizens about flooding and drainage issues and start gaining actionable insights right away.

This is especially relevant, given that only 40% of UK citizens feel prepared for flooding, despite most believing flooding is worsening [2]. Understanding “why” behind those scores is crucial to inform action.

The power of follow-up questions

Great surveys don’t stop after the first answer. The strongest citizen surveys about flooding and drainage issues use automated follow-up questions that respond to each person’s reply, asking for a deeper story or clarification. Specific’s automatic AI follow-up questions feature takes care of this for you—asking smart, context-sensitive prompts in real time, just like an expert interviewer would.

• Citizen: "We had flooding last year and it was bad."

• AI follow-up: "Could you describe what made that flooding particularly challenging for you or your household?"

Without follow-ups, we’d risk unclear responses or miss root causes. Automated AI followups also save loads of time versus tracking people down after their initial response—no need for email back-and-forth later.

How many followups to ask? In most cases, two to three follow-ups are sufficient. In Specific, you can let the AI gracefully move to the next topic after a couple of clarifications, or set it to keep probing until it gets the core information you want. It’s a balance—enough to get to the heart of the answer, but not so much that the survey feels long or repetitive.

This makes it a conversational survey: Your survey turns into a real conversation, naturally responding to each citizen’s story. This is how you capture both the nuance and context that’s often missing from forms.

Easy AI response analysis: Don’t be intimidated by lots of open text. Specific’s AI-powered response analysis makes it simple to summarize insights and surface key themes—no manual coding or spreadsheet headaches.

These sorts of automated followup questions are a leap forward—give our AI survey generator a try and see just how much deeper you can go in a fraction of the time.

How to compose a prompt for ChatGPT or other GPTs to generate great questions

If you want to brainstorm great survey questions with an AI assistant like ChatGPT, here’s how you can prompt it. Start with a basic request, then build up the context for better and more relevant results.

Start with:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for citizen survey about flooding and drainage issues.

More context always helps. Try telling the AI about the specific area, your goals, and who’ll be taking the survey:

I’m designing a citizen survey for a mid-sized city recently affected by severe flooding. The goal is to understand how recent flooding has impacted daily life, what citizens feel about local drainage systems, and where the most urgent improvements are needed. Suggest 10 open-ended questions personalized for this context.

Once you have your list, ask:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Now, if you need to dig into certain aspects—like preparedness, or community impact—prompt:

Generate 10 questions for categories "Preparedness" and "Community Impact" that would surface actionable insights from citizens.

This helps you get tailored, actionable surveys without starting from scratch every time.

What is a conversational survey?

Conversational surveys are a big leap from traditional forms. Instead of a block of static questions, respondents talk naturally with an AI that responds and adjusts in real time. This approach keeps citizens more engaged, produces clearer data, and feels a lot less like taking a test.

AI survey examples—especially conversational surveys—have become the gold standard for tackling complex issues like flooding and drainage. They combine speed, structure, and human warmth, helping us gather and understand feedback at scale.

Why use AI for citizen surveys? Because we want candid stories, fresh perspectives, and reliable data—without all the friction. Specific’s survey maker gives you best-in-class conversational surveys, guiding citizens through a natural flow and generating richer, more complete insights than any manual approach. Interested in how to get started? Check out our guide to creating a survey for citizens about flooding and drainage issues and get inspired.

See this flooding and drainage issues survey example now

Ready for next-level feedback? See a live flooding and drainage issues survey example and experience how smart, AI-powered conversations can help you unlock deeper insights from your community—quickly, thoughtfully, and with less work.