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Best questions for college graduate student survey about research resources

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Adam Sabla

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Aug 29, 2025

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Here are some of the best questions for a college graduate student survey about research resources, plus tips for creating them. We know how hard it is to get truly useful insights; with Specific, you can build this survey in seconds and get better feedback the first time you ask.

Best open-ended questions for a college graduate student survey about research resources

We love open-ended questions because they let college graduate students explain how they really use—or can’t use—research resources. Open-enders are perfect for discovering the hidden obstacles, clever tools, or surprising workarounds people don’t share in checkboxes. Use them when you want stories, context, or ideas you may not expect.

  1. What are your most frequently used research resources, and why do you prefer them?

  2. Can you describe a recent challenge you faced in accessing or using research resources?

  3. What gaps do you see in the current research resources available to you?

  4. How do you typically find out about new research tools or databases?

  5. What improvements would make your research process more efficient?

  6. Are there any research resources you wish were available but aren’t?

  7. Describe a resource that significantly contributed to your graduate research. What made it valuable?

  8. How do you evaluate the quality and relevance of research resources?

  9. How has the use of artificial intelligence tools (like ChatGPT or Grammarly) affected your research workflow?

  10. What advice would you give other graduate students about navigating research resources?

With 86% of students now using AI in their studies, it’s essential to include questions that explore these emerging habits and their impact on research[1].

Effective single-select multiple-choice questions for graduate student research resource surveys

Multiple-choice questions work best for spotting trends, quantifying use, and making it easy for college graduate students to respond even when they’re busy. Starting with clear choices lets you identify patterns, speed up the survey, and set up targeted follow-ups for deeper insight.

Question: Which of these research resources do you use most frequently?

  • University Library Database

  • Google Scholar

  • Academic Journals (Elsevier, Springer, etc.)

  • AI Tools (ChatGPT, Grammarly, Microsoft Copilot, etc.)

  • Other

Question: How often do you use AI-powered research tools to assist your graduate studies?

  • Daily

  • Weekly

  • Occasionally

  • Rarely

  • Never

Question: How confident do you feel in your ability to find high-quality research resources?

  • Very confident

  • Somewhat confident

  • Neutral

  • Somewhat unconfident

  • Not confident at all

When to follow up with "why?" It’s smart to ask “why?” when a response can open a conversation you’d otherwise miss—like if a student says they rarely use AI tools, a follow-up can reveal if it’s due to lack of skills, awareness, or trust. For example, if someone picks “Rarely” for AI tools, follow up with “Why don’t you use these tools more often?” This helps reveal actionable barriers or mindsets[2].

When and why to add the "Other" choice? “Other” gives respondents an escape hatch—when their situation doesn’t fit your lists. It’s often a goldmine for discovering niche resources, department-specific tools, or unanticipated needs. Always follow up with a text box: “Please specify,” which lets you hear about platforms or resources you haven’t thought of.

Should you use NPS in a graduate student research resources survey?

Net Promoter Score (NPS) offers one simple, powerful question: “How likely are you to recommend [resource] to a peer?” For research resources, it reveals both overall satisfaction and potential gaps in what’s offered to graduate students. This metric is useful not just for companies but also for university libraries, resource teams, or tool vendors who want to benchmark sentiment and track improvements over time.

If you want to see how that works in practice, generate an NPS survey for college graduate students about research resources in seconds.

The power of follow-up questions

Open-enders and single-choice questions only get you halfway—the real gems come from smart, timely follow-ups. Our article on automated follow-up questions goes deep on this, but here’s the key thing: follow-ups are how you clarify, challenge, and learn from unclear or incomplete responses.

When surveys rely on static forms, you can end up with this:

  • Graduate student: “I use AI sometimes.”

  • AI follow-up: “Can you describe when you use AI tools, and what you find helpful or frustrating about them?”

That simple probe opens up specifics you can actually act on—maybe you’ll find a majority struggling because 58% of students still feel they lack adequate AI knowledge and skills, even as usage soars[1].

How many follow-ups to ask? Typically, two or three tailored follow-ups are enough. You don’t want to exhaust people, but you do want enough detail to spot recurring issues or big wins. Specific lets you tweak this so respondents can skip follow-ups once you’ve got the context you need.

This makes it a conversational survey: Instead of feeling like a form, the back-and-forth creates the same flow as a live interview, without the scheduling hassle or calendar chaos.

Easy survey response analysis, powered by AI: With so much unstructured text, you need powerful tools to make sense of it all. That’s where our AI-driven response analysis shines. You can instantly analyze all those AI survey responses—here’s how.

This automated follow-up approach is totally new for most organizations. Try generating a conversational survey and see the difference real-time follow-ups can make yourself.

How to prompt AI (like ChatGPT) for smarter college graduate student research survey questions

Let’s get tactical. AI survey generators and GPT-based tools are fantastic for brainstorming survey questions. Here’s a simple prompt to start:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for College Graduate Student survey about Research Resources.

This works well—but AI gets smarter when you feed it context about your needs, your audience, and your “why”. For example, try this:

We’re surveying college graduate students about their use of research resources and emerging AI tools. Our main goal is to improve awareness, usability, and access. Please provide questions that dig into both classic resources (databases, journals) and new AI-powered ones (e.g. ChatGPT, Copilot).

Once you have a long list, ask the AI:

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

See which categories matter most to you. Maybe it’s “Barriers to access”, “Favorite resources”, or “AI experiences”. Now you can get even more targeted:

Generate 10 questions for categories “AI experiences” and “Barriers to access”.

This iterative prompting helps you expand, refine, and focus your AI survey question list until you have a truly dialed-in set tailored to your audience and goals.

What is a conversational survey, and why is AI survey generation such a game-changer?

A conversational survey isn’t just a boring list of questions. It’s an interactive, chat-like experience—where each response can trigger smart follow-ups, creating true engagement and richer, more authentic feedback. Think of it as having a skilled interviewer embedded in your survey, ready to clarify and dig deeper without taking anyone’s time or scheduling endless calls.

Manual Surveys

AI-Generated Conversational Surveys

Rigid structure, few follow-ups

Dynamic, tailors follow-ups to responses

Slow to build and edit

Change structure instantly by chatting with the AI survey editor (see how)

Analysis is manual and time-consuming

Analysis is instant with AI—summaries, themes, and insights at a click (learn more)

Hard to keep respondents engaged

Chat-like flow feels natural and increases completion rates

Why use AI for college graduate student surveys? AI survey builders remove the fuss and friction from survey creation. You describe your goal, AI generates the survey (often better than a human would), and AI drives the conversation—probing for context, surfacing patterns, and giving you actionable feedback, fast. With 54% of students already using AI-powered educational tools every week, a conversational, AI-first experience just feels natural to your audience[4].

Specific offers a best-in-class conversational survey experience for both survey creators and graduate student respondents. Whether you want to create your own survey, brainstorm questions, or analyze text-heavy feedback, it’s designed to make every step smooth, friendly, and effective.

See this research resources survey example now

Ready to gather deeper insights from college graduate students? See first-hand how conversational surveys can unlock hidden needs, boost response rates, and surface the feedback no form ever could—get started right away and discover the power of truly conversational AI-driven feedback.

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Sources

  1. Campus Technology. Survey: 86% of College Students Already Use AI in Their Studies

  2. BestColleges. Most College Students Have Used AI on Assignments or Exams

  3. MDPI. Students' Perceptions and Use of Generative AI Tools in Higher Ed

  4. DemandSage. AI in Education Statistics (2025 Report)

Adam Sabla - Image Avatar

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.