Here are some of the best questions for a high school sophomore student survey about bullying and harassment, plus tips on how to craft them. With Specific, you can generate a conversational survey in seconds and collect richer responses.
Best open-ended questions for bullying and harassment surveys
Open-ended questions uncover real stories, emotions, and specifics that multiple-choice never will. They’re perfect for understanding context, motivations, or where quantitative questions fall short—especially on topics as sensitive as bullying and harassment. We recommend using them to surface personal experiences and insights you’d miss with only structured questions.
Can you describe a time during this school year when you or someone you know experienced bullying or harassment?
Where do you think bullying happens most often at our school?
What do you think are the main reasons some students are bullied?
How did you feel or react when you witnessed bullying or harassment?
If you experienced bullying, how did it affect your day-to-day life at school?
What would make you feel safer or more supported if you experienced or witnessed bullying?
Do you think adults at school respond effectively when bullying is reported? Why or why not?
Can you share what stopped you (or someone you know) from reporting an incident of bullying?
What actions do you wish students or staff would take to prevent bullying?
Is there anything else about bullying or harassment at school that you think needs more attention?
Using this approach is important—about 19.2% of students aged 12–18 reported being bullied during the 2021–2022 school year, highlighting the need for honest, open feedback that only these questions can elicit. [1]
Best single-select multiple-choice questions to quantify bullying and harassment
Single-select multiple-choice questions help you spot patterns, track prevalence, and quickly analyze results. They're perfect for cases where you need numbers, want to nudge participation, or help students start sharing—especially with challenging topics where typing a long answer can feel intimidating. Choices serve as a light “bridge” to open up the conversation, and you can always dig deeper with follow-ups.
Question: During this school year, how often have you witnessed bullying at school?
Never
Once or twice
Occasionally
Frequently
Other
Question: Where did you see or experience bullying most often?
Classroom
Cafeteria or hallways
Online/social media
Sports or extracurriculars
I have not seen/experienced bullying
Question: If you were bullied, did you tell an adult at school?
Yes
No
Not applicable (I was not bullied)
When to follow up with "why?" Follow up when you want to understand the reasons behind answers (e.g., why a student didn’t report bullying). If someone selects “No” to telling an adult, a follow-up such as “Can you share why you chose not to?” helps uncover barriers to reporting, like trust or fear.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? “Other” lets students express unique experiences not captured by your options. Following up on “Other” can reveal surprising trends or problems you hadn’t thought to ask about, uncovering those hidden insights that structured choices may miss.
As an example, the classroom is the most common location for bullying, reported by 47% of students—a stat that validates including that option, but open write-ins may expose new risk areas too. [3]
NPS-style question for bullying and harassment among high school sophomores
NPS (Net Promoter Score) measures loyalty or satisfaction—usually with a company, but it’s shockingly useful for school climate and safety topics. Asking “How likely are you to recommend this school as a safe and supportive environment to others?” on a 0-10 scale gives you a gauge of student sentiment and trust regarding bullying. It’s quantifiable, benchmarks well over time, and follow-ups get straight to underlying problems or bright spots. Try creating such an NPS survey for students using this tailored survey builder.
This approach matters—students who report positive school climate are less likely to experience ongoing bullying or emotional distress. Plus, you can tailor follow-up questions for promoters, passives, and detractors to drill deeper into reasons behind the score.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-ups are where true understanding emerges. Instead of getting a single, ambiguous answer, you can ask probing questions like an expert interviewer—instantly and automatically. By using advanced features like AI-powered followup questions, you eliminate the need to chase responses by email and guarantee you gather full context in the moment, at scale.
High school sophomore: “I guess bullying is common in some classes.”
AI follow-up: “Can you describe which classes or situations you’ve seen this happen in?”
Without this back-and-forth, you risk getting answers too vague to drive meaningful change.
How many followups to ask? Generally, 2–3 targeted follow-ups are enough for deep context—Specific’s settings let you define how many, and will automatically move to the next question when the insight is captured.
This makes it a conversational survey: Respondents feel heard, and every answer shapes the next step, making the process natural for participants and highly insightful for organizers.
AI response analysis, automatic summaries: Even with mountains of text, AI tools make it easy to analyze survey responses, surfacing key themes, breakouts by demographic, and actionable patterns—all without manual work.
Try out a conversational survey with automated followup questions to experience just how much richer (and easier to action) your feedback can be.
How to prompt ChatGPT for effective bullying and harassment survey questions
If you want ChatGPT or another GPT to draft survey questions for you, start broad, then give context. First, try this:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for high school sophomore student survey about bullying and harassment.
You’ll notice: The AI gets smarter the more you share. Add your goal, audience, context—like this:
I’m the school counselor and need to understand both the types and places of bullying sophomores experience, and why many incidents go unreported. Suggest 10 open-ended questions for this survey.
To organize it all, you could say:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Once you see categories like “experiences,” “reporting,” or “prevention,” you can have AI drill down:
Generate 10 questions for the “Reporting Barriers” and “Prevention Suggestions” categories.
What is a conversational survey—with AI?
A conversational survey moves beyond static forms—a survey becomes a dialogue. Instead of asking every respondent the same list of questions, the AI adapts, probes, and follows up like a skilled interviewer. You save enormous time, and students get a more human, less intimidating experience. Responses are truer, richer, and easier to analyze.
Manual survey creation | AI-generated survey |
|---|---|
Slow (draft, edit, review each question) | Instant survey creation via prompt |
Rigid; everyone gets same static questions | Dynamic, context-aware follow-ups per respondent |
Manual analysis of open-ended answers | Automatic grouping, summarizing, and trend detection |
Hard to keep conversational or engaging | Feels like a natural chat; higher completion rates |
Why use AI for high school sophomore student surveys? The sensitive nature of bullying and harassment means students may hide or under-report these experiences. A conversational, AI-guided survey puts them at ease, and gathers context that might never show up in a form. And with AI, you can quickly refine, edit, or translate your survey just by chatting—using the AI survey editor or AI survey generator. For a step-by-step walkthrough, read our guide to building your own AI-powered bullying and harassment survey.
Specific offers a best-in-class user experience: responsive, clear, mobile-friendly conversational surveys that make feedback collection smooth for both you and your students. Try an AI survey example, experiment with question editing, and experience the difference of a modern feedback process firsthand.
See this bullying and harassment survey example now
Start gathering deeper, more actionable insights—faster. See how Specific’s conversational surveys about bullying and harassment empower you to truly understand and support your students today.