Best questions for citizen survey about school quality perception

Here are some of the best questions for a citizen survey about school quality perception, plus tips on crafting effective questions. If you want to build a survey in seconds, you can generate one instantly using Specific, our AI survey platform.

Best open-ended questions for citizen survey about school quality perception

Open-ended questions let citizens share their personal views and stories, giving us rich details that multiple-choice surveys miss. They're best when you want honest opinions, nuanced context, or unexpected insights rather than quick yes/no answers.

1. What is your overall impression of the quality of education at your local school?

2. What do you think the school does best to support student learning?

3. Are there any specific areas where you feel the school could improve?

4. How do you feel about the communication between the school and families?

5. What changes would make you more satisfied with the education your community receives?

6. Can you share an example of something the school handled particularly well or poorly?

7. How safe do you feel students are in your local school, and why?

8. What resources or programs do you wish were available at your local school?

9. How does your perception of school quality compare with that of friends and neighbors?

10. What would you tell a family considering moving to your area about the local schools?

Open-ended questions like these help us dig into the real experiences that shape citizen perceptions. For example, recent research found that in Denmark, 43% of students said they were satisfied or very satisfied with government secondary schools, highlighting the importance of understanding what’s working well and what needs attention [3].

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for citizen survey about school quality perception

Single-select multiple-choice questions are the best tool when you want to quantify opinions or quickly spot trends. They’re also a great way to kick off a conversation—sometimes a short list of answers makes it easier for someone to get started before later digging deeper with open-text or follow-up questions.

Question: How would you rate the overall quality of education at your local school?

• Excellent

• Good

• Average

• Poor

• Unsure

Question: Which area do you believe requires the most improvement in your local school?

• Teaching quality

• Facilities and resources

• Student safety

• Extracurricular activities

• Other

Question: How often do you receive clear communication from your local school?

• Always

• Often

• Sometimes

• Rarely

• Never

When to follow up with "why?" In surveys, after someone selects an option, always consider a follow-up question like “Why did you choose this option?” It turns a generic response into actionable feedback. For example, if someone rates communication as “poor,” asking why can reveal specifics—maybe emails aren’t timely, or information isn’t clear.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always add “Other” as an option when the preset answers might not cover every citizen’s experience. Follow-up questions after “Other” can uncover unexpected insights that you hadn’t thought to include, letting respondents describe their unique situations in detail.

NPS-type question for school quality perception

NPS—or Net Promoter Score—asks respondents how likely they are to recommend the local school to others, on a scale of 0 to 10. It’s a favorite for measuring satisfaction because it’s fast, easy to understand, and produces a benchmark you can track over time. For a citizen survey about school quality perception, NPS can reveal not just satisfaction, but advocacy. If someone wouldn’t recommend the school, we can ask follow-ups to understand why. This fits perfectly with Specific's approach—see our NPS survey generator for citizen school quality perception to see how easy it is to get started.

In one recent UK survey, only about 31% of citizens felt positive about their national education system, while 39% thought it was bad and 28% were unsure [1]. Using an NPS framework, you can track public sentiment and see how local experiences compare with national trends.

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-up questions are the real engine behind conversational AI surveys. Instead of leaving answers ambiguous, our automated followup question system listens and dives deeper—much like a human expert would in a conversation. This is the difference between collecting surface-level data versus meaningful insights.

• Citizen: "I think the school's facilities are average."

• AI follow-up: "Could you share what makes you feel the facilities are average? Are there specific improvements you'd like to see?"

• Citizen: "I don't always get information from the school."

• AI follow-up: "What kind of information do you think is missing or delayed? Can you give an example?"

How many followups to ask? Two or three follow-ups are usually enough to get real clarity. With Specific, you can automatically limit follow-ups or let the AI skip ahead after gathering the key insight—no more endless threads for your citizens to wade through.

This makes it a conversational survey: When the survey feels like a back-and-forth chat, it keeps respondents engaged and increases completion rates while drawing out richer context and authentic stories.

AI response analysis and summary: No need to get overwhelmed by all this detailed, open-text feedback. With AI-powered tools like AI survey response analysis, you can summarize core themes and extract actionable insights in minutes—even from thousands of answers.

Automated, smart follow-up is a new concept for many survey creators, but when you build a survey with Specific, it’s effortless. Try it and you’ll see how much more you can learn from your community—without any extra work.

How to prompt ChatGPT for better survey questions about school quality perception

If you're brainstorming with AI, a thoughtful prompt is everything. Here's the simplest way to start:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for citizen survey about school quality perception.

But AI really shines when you provide more detail. Instead of a generic prompt, be specific about who you are, what context you’re working in, and what you want to accomplish. For example:

I am a local government official aiming to evaluate perceptions of school quality in our town. Suggest 10 open-ended survey questions that will help us uncover actionable feedback for both strengths and areas needing improvement, taking into account recent national satisfaction surveys.

After listing ideas, improve structure and clarity:

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

Review the categories, then dive deeper:

Generate 10 questions for categories like 'communication with families,' 'teaching quality,' and 'school safety.'

This approach doesn’t just get you better questions—it helps you cover all the bases that matter to citizens, much like the way we build conversational surveys with Specific.

What is a conversational survey?

Conversational surveys are fundamentally different from the static forms we’ve used for decades. Instead of sending out a generic questionnaire and hoping for the best, conversational surveys engage the respondent in a real-time chat, clarifying ambiguous answers, probing for reasons, and showing you’re genuinely listening. With AI, these surveys adapt questions on the fly—no coding or logic trees needed.

In a nutshell, AI survey builders like Specific survey generator let you chat out your first draft, auto-generate survey logic, and fine-tune everything in an AI-powered survey editor. The result is a conversational survey that’s fast to build, enjoyable for citizens to complete, and effortless to analyze later.

Why use AI for citizen surveys? Because traditional surveys are often boring, ambiguous, and leave both you and citizens frustrated. With an AI survey example, you get higher response rates, deeper context, and never have to chase someone down for clarification. That’s not just efficient—it’s how modern feedback should feel.

If you want a step-by-step walkthrough, check out our guide on how to create a citizen survey about school quality perception.

With Specific, you get best-in-class user experience—conversational surveys that make the feedback process smooth, human, and genuinely insightful for both creators and respondents. Whether you’re after a quick pulse check or deep community feedback, our platform covers it all.

See this school quality perception survey example now

Kickstart your citizen survey project in minutes with Specific’s conversational AI surveys—designed to capture honest stories, actionable data, and uncover insights you’ll actually use. See how easy it is to create, customize, and analyze feedback today.