Here are some of the best questions for an ex-cult member survey about harassment or stalking, plus tips on how to craft them for maximum insight. You can build your own survey in seconds using Specific’s AI-driven survey generator—no manual setup required. Generate a conversational survey for ex-cult member harassment or stalking instantly.
Best open-ended questions for ex-cult member survey about harassment or stalking
Open-ended questions are powerful because they let ex-cult members share their stories in their own words, surfacing details you might never anticipate. They’re perfect for exploring complex experiences, especially when dealing with sensitive topics like harassment or stalking, where nuance and emotion matter. Given that about 60% of former cult members struggle to reintegrate into society, it’s essential to create space for their real voices and stories. [1]
Can you describe any harassment or stalking you experienced after leaving the cult?
How did harassment or stalking by cult members or associates affect your daily life?
Were there specific triggers or events that led to increased harassment or stalking?
How did you recognize the behaviors as harassment or stalking, as opposed to normal conflict or disagreement?
What strategies did you use to cope with or respond to harassment or stalking?
Did you seek help or support (from professionals, family, friends, police)? What was that experience like?
How has your experience of harassment or stalking affected your sense of safety or trust?
In what ways, if any, did harassment or stalking impact your mental health or wellbeing?
If you reported harassment or stalking, how did organizations (authorities, support groups, legal system) respond?
What advice would you give to other ex-cult members facing similar issues with harassment or stalking?
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for ex-cult member survey about harassment or stalking
Single-select multiple-choice questions are your go-to when you want quick, quantifiable data or a gentle way to start the conversation. For sensitive surveys like this, giving people a set of choices can lower friction, making it easier for them to participate before you follow up for richer detail. Plus, these closed questions help you spot patterns quickly and segment responses for deeper analysis.
Question: Have you experienced harassment or stalking since leaving the cult?
Yes, harassment
Yes, stalking
Yes, both
No
Question: Who was responsible for the harassment or stalking you experienced?
Current cult members
Former cult members
Family/friends of cult members
Other
Question: How did the harassment or stalking affect your mental health?
Increased anxiety
Depression or mood issues
Sleep disruption
No noticeable impact
When to followup with "why?" If a respondent selects “No noticeable impact” but demographic data suggests otherwise, or you want to understand reasoning behind an unexpected answer, asking “why?” right after the choice gives you context that would otherwise be lost—for example, “Why do you feel that the harassment or stalking had no noticeable impact on your mental health?” This turns a simple data point into valuable feedback.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always give the “Other” choice when your options might not cover every scenario. If someone picks “Other,” immediately follow up with “Can you describe what you experienced?” This is where surprising or uncommon responses surface, often leading to new insights you’d miss with predefined choices alone.
NPS question for ex-cult member survey about harassment or stalking
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a classic single-question survey metric, designed to measure loyalty or the likelihood of recommending a resource or service. For ex-cult member surveys about harassment or stalking, NPS can be a surprisingly useful way to quickly gauge overall satisfaction with support services, recovery programs, or even the perceived safety post-exit.
If you want to automatically create an NPS survey for ex-cult members on this topic, you can start in seconds using Specific’s NPS survey builder for harassment or stalking—just describe what you need and let the AI handle the details.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions are what turn a standard survey into an insightful, conversational survey. They build context, clarify meaning, and help respondents open up. With automated followups, you get the benefits of a skilled, probing interviewer—without the time sink of manual email chains or back-and-forth. This is especially crucial when ex-cult members may describe complex, difficult-to-express feelings about harassment or stalking. AI-powered followups make the conversation natural and human; the flow never feels robotic.
Ex-cult member: “I just avoided everyone and tried to move on.”
AI follow-up: “Was there a specific event or behavior that made avoidance feel necessary? Can you share more about that experience?”
How many followups to ask? In our experience, 2–3 followups get you a complete story without overwhelming your respondent. Specific allows you to cap followups or let people skip ahead once their main point has been made—it’s completely flexible.
This makes it a conversational survey: The survey evolves as a genuine back-and-forth, helping ex-cult members feel truly heard and understood, not just checkboxed.
AI survey response analysis: Even large volumes of unstructured feedback are easy to analyze with AI. Read how to analyze responses from ex-cult member surveys with Specific.
These automated followup questions are a game changer—try generating a survey and experience the difference of real-time, context-aware probing for yourself.
How to prompt GPT for ex-cult member harassment or stalking survey questions
If you’d rather brainstorm with ChatGPT or another LLM, start with a direct prompt for broad coverage:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for ex-cult member survey about harassment or stalking.
But for higher-quality output, add context—who you are, your goals, your audience, your past experience. For example:
I am a researcher working with former cult members, aiming to understand their experiences of harassment and stalking since leaving. Please suggest 10 open-ended questions that are sensitive to trauma, encourage honest sharing, and can be used in a conversational survey.
Once you have an initial list, dig deeper with this prompt:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Then, pick the categories you want to explore further and prompt:
Generate 10 questions for the categories “coping strategies” and “support resources.”
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey is a chat-like, dynamic feedback experience—powered by AI—where questions and responses flow naturally, just like a real interview. Instead of answering a static list, respondents interact with the survey in real time. Unlike manual surveys, which require you to script every question and manually analyze open-text answers, AI survey generation and analysis make the process dramatically faster and richer.
Manual Survey Creation | AI-generated Survey (Conversational) |
Hand-write every question | Describe your goal; AI builds the survey from prompt |
No dynamic probing or followups | AI asks smart follow-ups, adapting to answers |
Time-consuming analysis of responses | Instant AI summaries, themes, and chat analysis |
Rigid, form-like UX | Feels natural and engaging—like a real conversation |
Why use AI for ex-cult member surveys? Because experiences of harassment or stalking are nuanced and emotionally charged. AI can ask clarifying followups that a static form would miss, and distill narrative feedback into clear themes for you to act on. This dramatically improves the quality of insight, especially on complex, personal topics.
For a walkthrough of designing this kind of AI survey, see our guide to creating conversational surveys for ex-cult members.
Specific is designed with best-in-class user experience in mind. Our conversational surveys not only maximize meaningful responses, but also make participation smoother and more approachable for sensitive audiences like former cult members. When you use our tools, both you and your respondents get a frictionless, insightful feedback process.
See this harassment or stalking survey example now
Act now to see how easy it is to unlock honest feedback from ex-cult members—Specific makes it effortless to craft, launch, and analyze conversational surveys that go far deeper than any form ever could.