Best questions for ex-cult member survey about identity reconstruction

Here are some of the best questions for an ex-cult member survey about identity reconstruction, plus our tips for creating them. If you need to build or generate a strong conversational survey, Specific can help you create one in seconds.

Best open-ended questions for ex-cult member survey about identity reconstruction

Open-ended questions let people share experiences in their own words. They unlock powerful qualitative insight, especially when dealing with complex topics like identity reconstruction after leaving a cult. For ex-cult members—where every journey is unique—open questions help us understand context, emotion, and challenge in depth.

1. How would you describe your sense of self before, during, and after your involvement in the group?

2. What aspects of your identity have changed the most since leaving the group?

3. Can you share a moment when you first questioned your beliefs or identity within the group?

4. What has been the biggest challenge in rebuilding your identity post-exit?

5. How do relationships outside the group influence your sense of self now?

6. Which values or beliefs have you kept, altered, or discarded since leaving?

7. Who or what has supported you most in reconstructing your identity?

8. How does your current community help or hinder your identity reconstruction?

9. Describe how you cope with memories or triggers related to your group experience.

10. What advice would you give to others navigating their own identity after leaving a similar group?

Open-ended questions let respondents dive deep and can reveal trauma, resilience, and the breadth of change—especially relevant since up to 71.3% of ex-cult members report symptoms of PTSD after leaving their groups [2].

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for ex-cult member survey about identity reconstruction

Single-select multiple-choice questions are great when you want to quantify responses or reduce friction for participants just beginning to articulate their thoughts. Sometimes, it’s hard for people to articulate complex answers, but offering a handful of short options gets the conversation started. You can always dig deeper with open-ended follow-ups.

Question: Which part of your identity has been hardest to reconstruct after leaving your group?

• Personal beliefs/values

• Relationships with family

• Career/education focus

• Sense of belonging/community

• Other

Question: Since leaving the group, how often do you feel unsure about your identity?

• Almost always

• Sometimes

• Rarely

• Never

Question: Who do you rely on most when navigating identity changes?

• Family members

• Friends outside the group

• Former group members

• Professional counselor/therapist

• No one

• Other

When to follow up with "why?" Bringing in a "why" followup makes sense anytime you want to move beyond surface-level choices. For example: “You selected ‘Relationships with family’ as most difficult to rebuild. Can you share why this has been hardest for you?” This helps surface real-life challenges and lets respondents open up.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always give space for "Other" when you suspect your list isn’t covering every unique experience—especially in a context as complex as post-cult identity. Following up on “Other” reveals unexpected influences, and those findings can help you improve next iterations of your survey or even your support programs.

NPS-style question for ex-cult member identity reconstruction surveys

Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures advocacy—usually about products, but it can absolutely fit an ex-cult member survey about identity reconstruction. You might ask: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how confident do you feel about who you are today compared to before your group experience?” This quantifies overall progress and is easy to benchmark over time. Try generating an NPS survey with this prompt right now using this prefilled builder.

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-ups change the game. Instead of static and shallow responses, automated follow-up questions from Specific’s AI can clarify, probe, and let people express real context. The AI listens and adapts—just like a true expert interviewer would. That’s essential if we’re not doing a live interview with every respondent, but still want those richer details.

• Ex-cult member: “Leaving the group was hard, but now I’m rebuilding.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you share what has helped you the most as you rebuild your identity?”

Without follow-ups, we’re left guessing what “rebuilding” means. Did they find outside support? Change their beliefs? Face stigma? The AI helps us get specifics in real time, saving huge amounts of time compared to chasing people for clarification via email.

How many followups to ask? We recommend two or three follow-up questions per topic. Specific lets you set a maximum—once you’ve got what you need, AI moves to the next question. That avoids fatigue and keeps things conversational.

This makes it a conversational survey and not just a form—the dialogue flows naturally, so people open up more.

AI survey response analysis tools make it simple to get insights even from long, detailed answers. You can analyze open-ended survey responses quickly, identify trends, and ask further questions inside your data—all powered by GPT.

Automated follow-ups are new for most feedback teams. Try generating a conversational survey and see how much richer, clearer your data becomes.

How to prompt AI (like ChatGPT) for great ex-cult member identity questions

You can use large language models to brainstorm and refine your survey. Try this to start:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for ex-cult member survey about identity reconstruction.

But it gets better when you give more context. Make your prompt specific: explain your audience, your ultimate goals, and the emotional nuances. Here’s a richer prompt:

You are an expert researcher supporting ex-cult members who are rebuilding their identity after leaving a high-control group. Suggest 10 open-ended questions for a survey that will help us understand their identity reconstruction process. The survey should be sensitive, clear, and helpful for people who may still be struggling emotionally.

Next, organize your questions:

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

Finally, dig deeper into the categories that matter most:

Generate 10 questions for the categories “Belief changes” and “Relationship rebuilding”.

This prompt-chaining approach combines AI expertise with your real-world intuition—useful when building a survey with AI or even composing a custom prompt inside Specific’s AI survey generator.

What is a conversational survey?

Conversational surveys ask questions like a chat, listening and adapting just like a human interviewer. Automated AI follow-ups clarify and explore responses deeper—making the whole experience more personal and engaging for respondents, and yielding much richer insights for you. Traditional surveys, by contrast, feel rigid—think multiple pages of short-answer boxes, little context, and high dropout rates.

Why use AI for ex-cult member surveys? These topics are emotionally loaded and nuanced. AI-generated conversational surveys let respondents share at their own pace, while smart follow-ups encourage people to open up when they’re ready. This is crucial for collecting accurate, honest, and actionable data—especially since about 60% of former cult members struggle with reintegrating into society [1].

If you want the quickest, best-in-class experience, Specific’s conversational surveys automatically handle structure, clarity, and data analysis—resulting in a smooth, chat-like interaction that’s genuinely easier on both sides. You can read more about how to create a conversational survey for ex-cult members about identity reconstruction in our practical guide.

See this identity reconstruction survey example now

Take the next step—see an identity reconstruction survey example built for ex-cult members in action, and create your survey for deeper, more candid insights starting today. Specific’s conversational format unlocks stories, context, and the clarity you won’t get with standard survey tools.