Here are some of the best questions for a citizen survey about trust in local government, plus practical tips to craft them for deeper insights. If you want to build such a survey quickly, you can generate a citizen survey about trust in local government with Specific in seconds.
The best open-ended questions for citizen survey about trust in local government
Open-ended questions encourage citizens to share detailed, honest views in their own words. These are essential when you don’t want to limit answers or when you're seeking context, nuance, or stories beyond simple "yes" or "no." The value is clear—research shows that conversational surveys with open-ended, AI-driven probing yield much richer, more informative feedback than ordinary forms. [1]
In your own words, how would you describe your current level of trust in our local government?
What factors most influence your trust or distrust in local government officials?
Can you share a recent experience that increased or decreased your trust in our local government?
What changes would you like to see to help rebuild or strengthen your trust in local authorities?
Are there specific local government services you feel manage public interest well? Why or why not?
How transparent do you feel local government communications and decisions are? Can you give an example?
What would make you more likely to participate in local decision-making or community consultations?
Which local issues do you think the government should prioritize to build trust with residents?
How comfortable do you feel voicing your opinions or concerns to local government representatives?
In what ways could local government better engage with the community to understand its needs?
The best single-select multiple-choice questions for citizen survey about trust in local government
Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect for quantifying how people feel or starting a conversation, especially when you want to spot trends quickly or help citizens respond without needing to think up an answer on the spot. With visible options, many respondents find it easier to engage, increasing participation rates—something that’s crucial as recent data shows trust in local government is declining worldwide. [2]
Question: How much do you currently trust our local government to act in the public’s best interest?
Completely trust
Mostly trust
Somewhat trust
Do not trust at all
Question: Which area needs the most improvement to increase your trust in local government?
Transparency and communication
Public participation opportunities
Service delivery quality
Financial management
Other
Question: How often do you feel the local government seeks citizen input before making decisions?
Always
Often
Seldom
Never
When to follow up with "why?" The best time to ask "why?" is after a respondent picks any answer that merits more context. For example, if someone selects "Do not trust at all," immediately probing with "Can you tell us more about your experiences that led to this feeling?" helps clarify their perspective and digs into actionable feedback.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Including "Other" lets citizens express unique or unexpected opinions you might not have considered. If someone selects "Other," following up with "What else did you have in mind?" can reveal surprising insights you’d otherwise miss.
NPS-type question for citizen survey about trust in local government
NPS, or Net Promoter Score, is often used to measure loyalty and satisfaction by asking how likely someone is to recommend a service or institution to others. For trust in local government, an NPS-style question can help uncover both advocates and detractors, giving you a quantifiable signal that you can track over time. NPS adds a layer of simplicity—everyone understands a 0 to 10 scale. You can instantly create an NPS survey for citizens about trust in local government with Specific and dig deeper using automatic follow-up questions for promoters, passives, and detractors.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions are what separate surface-level answers from meaningful, actionable insights. We built automated follow-up logic into Specific’s conversational surveys, so the AI can respond to each answer like a real expert researcher—picking up clues, clarifying ambiguity, and gathering complete stories in real time.
Citizen: I feel the local government isn’t transparent.
AI follow-up: Could you share a recent example where you felt transparency was lacking? How did it impact your perception?
Without a follow-up, all you’d know is they want more transparency. But with a gentle, relevant probe, you get details and context, making the feedback much more useful when you analyze later.
How many follow-ups to ask? We typically recommend 2–3 follow-ups, as this is enough to collect rich detail without causing fatigue. With Specific, you can tweak this setting—once the AI captures what you need, the respondent is seamlessly moved to the next question.
This makes it a conversational survey: Each follow-up brings the conversation to life, making the respondent feel heard, and keeping them engaged from start to finish.
AI survey analysis: Even if you end up with long-form, complex answers, analyzing survey responses with Specific's AI is straightforward. The AI tags, summarizes, and breaks down key points, transforming unstructured text into clear trends you can act on.
Automatic follow-up questions are a new generational leap in survey design—generate a survey now and experience how they can help you get the complete picture.
How to prompt ChatGPT (or other GPTs) to create great questions for citizen survey about trust in local government
If you want to use ChatGPT, the first and simplest prompt is:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Citizen survey about Trust In Local Government.
But you’ll get even better results if you give more context about your goals, audience, or even tone of voice. For example:
You are a professional researcher designing a survey for citizens in a medium-sized European city, focused on understanding drivers of trust in local government. Suggest 10 open-ended questions to uncover attitudes, experiences, and expectations. Make sure to probe on transparency, participation, and public service delivery.
Once you have a question list, prompt the AI to organize it for you:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Look at the categories, pick one or two you want to explore deeper, then prompt:
Generate 10 questions for categories Transparency and Community Engagement.
This approach makes AI your sidekick for building strong, tailored surveys quickly—just like what happens under the hood in Specific’s AI survey generator.
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey is a feedback experience that feels like messaging with a real person, rather than filling out a static questionnaire. Instead of just clicking boxes or typing single replies, the AI listens, asks clarifying or follow-up questions, and guides the flow for maximum ease—very much like having a thoughtful interview.
The AI survey generation experience stands out for a few reasons:
Speed: You can go from a rough idea to a polished, logic-rich survey in minutes, not hours.
Flexibility: Want to tweak question order or add custom logic? Describe the change in chat—the AI survey editor makes it happen (AI-powered survey editing).
Better data quality: Real-time follow-ups adapt based on what people actually say, making the end result much richer than the basic forms created by hand.
Manual Surveys | AI-Generated Conversational Surveys |
|---|---|
Slow to build, hard to maintain | Quick to build—with smart logic, in chat |
Static questions, canned follow-ups only | Dynamic, context-aware follow-ups via AI |
Rigid forms, low engagement | Feels personal, like a conversation |
Hard to analyze qualitative responses | AI summarizes, tags themes automatically |
Why use AI for citizen surveys? AI survey examples—especially for big, nuanced topics like trust in local government—bring real scalability for both creation and analysis. With AI-driven conversational logic, you gather richer, more complete citizen feedback, spot key themes, and react faster.
Specific is built for this: best-in-class user experience for conversational surveys, so both you and your respondents enjoy a smooth, insightful, and even engaging feedback process from start to finish. Want step-by-step help? Check out how to create a survey about trust in local government—it’s packed with proven strategies.
See this trust in local government survey example now
Ready to capture deeper, actionable insights from your community? Try creating a conversational survey that adapts in real time, asks smart follow-ups, and makes analyzing complex opinions effortless—powered by Specific’s unique AI.