Best questions for ex-cult member survey about belief changes

Here are some of the best questions for an ex-cult member survey about belief changes, plus tips for crafting thoughtful questions. You can build a survey for ex-cult members in seconds using Specific’s AI survey generator.

Best open-ended questions for belief change surveys

Open-ended questions let ex-cult members share their experiences in their own words—vital for understanding complex emotions and nuanced belief changes after leaving a cult. They’re most powerful when you want deep insight, context, or stories that structured questions might miss. This approach is especially crucial, as roughly 60% of former cult members report trouble reintegrating post-departure, while 40% experience lingering guilt and shame, making empathy and space for narrative critical for both data quality and respondent wellbeing. [1]

1. What were the beliefs you held most strongly while part of the group, and how have these changed?

2. Can you describe a moment or event that sparked your initial doubts or questions?

3. How did your perception of the world shift after leaving the group?

4. What emotional challenges did you face as your beliefs changed?

5. What outside influences (books, people, experiences) most impacted your belief changes?

6. How do you talk about your past beliefs and experiences with others now?

7. What support or resources were most helpful during your transition out of the group?

8. How has your worldview evolved since leaving?

9. What advice would you give to someone currently questioning their group’s teachings?

10. Is there anything about your former beliefs that you still value or find useful today?

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for belief change

Single-select multiple-choice questions make it easier to quantify responses, compare trends, and kick off more targeted follow-ups. They’re great when you want a quick snapshot—sometimes choosing from options is less overwhelming than an open text box, especially around sensitive themes. This format encourages participation from those who may hesitate to share complex stories upfront, letting you dig deeper later through conversation.

Question: How long were you part of the group or community?

• Less than 1 year

• 1-3 years

• 3-10 years

• More than 10 years

Question: Which factor most influenced your decision to question your beliefs?

• Personal doubts

• Family or friends

• Media or research

• Negative experiences in the group

• Other

Question: After leaving, which challenge has been hardest for you?

• Emotional adjustment

• Social reintegration

• Guilt or shame

• Building new beliefs

When to follow up with “why?” You should ask “why?” in a follow-up when you want to understand the reason behind a respondent’s choice. For example, if someone selects “Media or research” as the key influence, you might follow up with, “Can you share what you learned that made the biggest impact?” This gets to the context and motivation—where the real insight lies.

When and why to add the “Other” choice? Always add “Other” to capture responses you might not have predicted. When someone picks it, automated follow-up questions can dig into unexpected stories or insights, revealing themes you hadn’t considered. Sometimes these additional paths lead to your survey’s most valuable discoveries.

NPS for tracking ongoing belief adjustment

NPS (Net Promoter Score) isn’t just for products or brands—it’s a deceptively powerful way to track ex-cult members’ satisfaction or confidence with their current belief systems. This single question (“On a scale of 0-10, how confident do you feel in your current beliefs?”) acts as a baseline for follow-up interviews or cross-year tracking. For sensitive transitions like these, tracking NPS-style responses over time can highlight recovery and adjustment trends, or signal the need for more support. You can instantly generate an NPS survey for ex-cult members about belief changes here.

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-up questions are where conversational surveys shine. Instead of ending with a one-word answer, Specific’s AI guides the conversation by instantly asking smart clarifying questions based on every previous reply. This automatic probing not only boosts data clarity and richness but imitates the natural flow of a one-on-one interview—just like you’d get from a seasoned researcher.

Research shows that AI chatbots conducting conversational surveys generate answers that are more informative, detailed, and clear than traditional forms. [2] The power of follow-ups lies in surfacing deeper stories without manual work. Learn more about automated follow-up questions here.

• Ex-cult member: “I just felt lost when I left.”

• AI follow-up: “What about leaving made you feel most lost?”

How many follow-ups to ask? In practice, two to three follow-ups are enough for depth, but it’s wise to stop once you’ve achieved the clarity you want—Specific lets you set this limit for efficiency.

This makes it a conversational survey: Each question feels like a real chat, not a soulless field on a form. Respondents are more willing to share, feel heard, and you capture richer context.

AI response analysis: Unstructured, qualitative text is easy to analyze using AI, which can instantly distill themes and insights from even long interviews. See how to analyze survey responses using AI here. You simply interact with your data as if you were chatting with a research assistant.

Because dynamic conversational AI surveys are a new concept, it’s worth trying to generate one for yourself to see how the experience (and results) are transformed in real time.

How to prompt ChatGPT for great belief change survey questions

To get high-quality survey questions from ChatGPT or similar AI, start by directly asking for open-ended questions:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Ex-Cult Member survey about Belief Changes.

But you’ll get dramatically better results if your prompt is specific. Always give context: who you are, what you want to know, and why. Here’s how to level up your prompting:

I’m running a survey for ex-cult members to understand how their beliefs have changed since leaving their group. I want to explore their emotional journey, challenges in reintegration, and the factors that shaped new worldviews. Suggest 10 thoughtful, open-ended questions that would let them share their stories in their own words.

Once you get your initial questions, prompt again:

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

Finally, pick categories you find most relevant, and ask:

Generate 10 questions for categories ‘Emotional challenges after leaving’ and ‘Influences on new beliefs’.

This iterative process helps you build a highly tailored and effective belief change survey.

What is a conversational survey?

A conversational survey uses AI to create the feel of a supportive one-on-one interview, instead of a cold form. AI survey generation—as used by Specific—is leagues ahead of manual survey building. Instead of hours spent scripting, branching, and formatting questions, you just describe your needs in everyday language. Within seconds, the AI delivers a ready-to-use, fully adaptive survey with the latest research-backed best practices built in. For ex-cult member surveys, this approach removes the tedious parts, reduces human bias, and ensures each respondent feels supported throughout the process.

Why use AI for ex-cult member surveys? Utilizing AI makes the entire process more empathetic, scalable, and capable of drawing out detailed experiences fast, in a conversational way. And with evidence that AI chatbots extract clearer, more relevant data from respondents—including those who are vulnerable or need extra care—the AI approach is simply more effective for topics like belief changes. [2][3]

If you want more detail on getting started, this how-to article on creating an ex-cult member belief change survey walks you through every step.

Specific is recognized for offering the best-in-class user experience in conversational surveys, making every feedback or research conversation engaging and smooth—whether you’re the creator or the respondent.

See this belief changes survey example now

See for yourself how conversational, AI-driven surveys can transform your understanding of ex-cult member belief changes—generate engaging, empathetic surveys that surface richer insights in minutes.