Here are some of the best questions for an elementary school student survey about respect for teachers, plus smart tips on how to create them. When you want to build a survey like this, Specific helps you generate a ready-to-go questionnaire in seconds—try it here.
Best open-ended questions for student surveys about respect for teachers
Open-ended questions let students share stories and thoughts you might never see with simple yes/no formats. They’re perfect for exploring feelings, personal experiences, and ideas—especially when you want more than statistics. But a word of caution: they come with higher nonresponse rates compared to closed-ended types (an average of 18% vs. 1–2%, according to Pew Research Center’s study on surveys) [1]. Still, when used thoughtfully, open-ended questions can highlight problems and perspectives that other question types might miss—81% of respondents in one study surfaced issues not covered by any closed-ended questions [2].
Can you tell me about a time when you felt especially respected by a teacher at school?
What does “respect for teachers” mean to you in your own words?
Describe something a teacher did that made you feel listened to or understood.
How do teachers in your school show respect to students every day?
If a friend didn’t treat a teacher well, what would you say to them?
What would make it easier for students to show respect for teachers?
Tell us about a moment where you saw respect (or disrespect) between students and teachers.
What could teachers do to help students feel more respected in class?
Why do you think respect between students and teachers matters?
If you could change one thing about how students treat teachers, what would it be?
For best results, keep the number of open-ended questions balanced—surveys with too many (like 10) can drop completion rates by more than 10 percentage points compared to those with just one. Aim for depth, not overload [3].
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for student feedback
Single-select multiple-choice questions make it easy to quantify feedback, spot trends, and get the conversation rolling—ideal when you want clarity, quick filters, or a gentle opener before asking for more detail. Especially for younger students, having a clear set of choices can lower anxiety and help them respond honestly.
Examples:
Question: How often do you feel respected by your teachers?
Always
Most of the time
Sometimes
Rarely
Never
Question: What do you think is the most important way to show respect to a teacher?
Listen when they speak
Follow instructions
Use polite language
Be honest
Other
Question: If you see another student being disrespectful to a teacher, what do you do?
Tell a teacher or adult
Talk to the student
Ignore it
Other
When to follow up with “why?” Even with multiple-choice, the real magic happens when you add a follow-up: “Why did you choose that answer?” If a student picks “sometimes” for feeling respected, a follow-up question helps you understand what’s working—and what isn’t. For example: “You mentioned you ‘sometimes’ feel respected—can you share a time when you didn’t feel respected?”
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Including “Other” gives students who don’t see themselves in the list a space to tell you what matters most to them. If they pick it, follow up: “Can you describe what you meant?,” which can uncover new insights you hadn’t considered.
NPS-style question for respect for teachers
The classic NPS (Net Promoter Score) question isn’t just for adults or businesses. It’s a smart way to ask: “On a scale from 0–10, how likely are you to recommend respecting teachers to a friend?” This works because students process the idea as a “how important is this to you” prompt. Gathering a score quickly shows if respect for teachers is strongly valued or if there’s room to promote it more. It also sets up meaningful follow-up questions: “What made you select that number?” and gives a clear metric for tracking change over time. To automatically set up an NPS survey for this audience and topic, check out the NPS survey generator.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions are where routine surveys become real conversations. Studies show responses are richer and more detailed when you build follow-ups into your question design [4]. Specific uses AI to ask these smart follow-ups in real time, just like an expert interviewer. The result? Deeper insights, a more natural feel, and time saved chasing clarifications by email or after the fact. Read more about how automatic AI follow-up questions work and why they make a difference.
Student: “Teachers are nice.”
AI follow-up: “Can you share a specific example of a teacher being nice to you?”
How many followups to ask? Usually, two or three is enough—going deeper only as needed to clarify important points. With Specific, you can always set the max number or skip to the next question once you get the depth you need.
This makes it a conversational survey—survey feels more like a supportive chat than a form, so students relax and open up.
AI-powered response analysis—analyze all responses easily, even those lengthy open-ended replies, with AI-powered tools. See how it’s done in the response analysis guide.
These dynamic follow-ups are a new standard—try generating a survey to see just how naturally the conversation unfolds.
How to prompt ChatGPT (or any AI) to write great student survey questions
Want to draft questions with AI? Start with a clear, direct prompt so the AI “knows” your context. Here’s an example starter:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for elementary school student survey about respect for teachers.
Add more detail for even better results. For example, explain your role, your goals, or the tone you want:
I’m a school counselor designing a survey for 9–11 year olds to understand their experiences with respect for teachers. Please focus on questions that encourage honest stories, are age-appropriate, and avoid jargon.
Once you have a draft list, write:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
This helps you spot topic areas—like classroom discipline, communication, or emotions. Next, prompt the AI to dig into categories most relevant:
Generate 10 questions for categories “classroom experiences” and “communication with teachers.”
What is a conversational survey?
Conversational surveys feel like chat, not forms. Instead of blasting out static questions, you open a dialogue—respondents answer naturally, and the AI steers the chat with follow-ups and encouragement. This approach doesn’t just engage students more—it collects richer info and adapts to each reply, creating space for surprises or clarifications. Field studies show AI-powered chat surveys drive higher engagement and result in answers that are more informative, specific, and clear than traditional online forms [5].
Manual surveys | AI-generated conversational surveys |
|---|---|
Hard-coded, one-way | Adaptive, back-and-forth dialogue |
Follow-up by email or later | Instant, smart follow-up on the spot |
Costly to analyze open ends | AI summarizes and distills key trends |
Can feel cold or intimidating | Friendly, familiar like chat |
Why use AI for elementary school student surveys? AI survey generators like Specific make it fast and easy to launch conversational surveys tailored to your audience. You get better data, less work, and tools built for analysis (not just collection). Try the AI survey generator to see how it works, or check this walkthrough on how to create a survey for elementary school students about respect for teachers.
Specific leads the way with best-in-class conversational survey tools. Each chat feels personal—making it smooth and fun for both students and organizers while ensuring you capture the feedback you set out to learn.
See this respect for teachers survey example now
Discover how a conversational survey can transform the way you gather feedback about respect for teachers—see real question flows, instant follow-ups, and AI-powered analysis in action. Create your own survey and unlock the power of deep, engaging feedback in minutes.