Here are some of the best questions for a middle school student survey about counseling services, plus practical tips for crafting them. You can instantly generate a custom survey with Specific—no manual work needed.
Best open-ended questions for a middle school student survey about counseling services
Open-ended questions invite honest, thoughtful answers and let students share their real experiences. These are essential when you want context, nuance, and surprises—especially for sensitive topics like mental health. Open-ended formats let students explain in their own words, making them feel heard.
What comes to mind when you think about the counseling services at your school?
If you have talked with a counselor, what was positive about the experience?
What could your school’s counseling services do better to help students?
Have you ever hesitated to talk to a school counselor? If so, why?
How easy or difficult is it to access a counselor when you need support?
What problems or challenges would you want more help with from your school counselor?
Can you describe a time when counseling services made a difference for you or someone you know?
What makes you feel comfortable (or uncomfortable) when speaking to a counselor?
In what ways would you like school counselors to better support students’ emotional wellbeing?
Is there anything preventing you from making use of counseling services? Please explain.
Research shows that about 26.7% of middle school students seek out counselors for social-emotional support—a rate much higher than in high school, which proves how vital these open-ended insights are for early intervention. [1]
Top single-select multiple-choice questions for a middle school student survey about counseling services
Single-select multiple-choice questions help you quantify trends and make participation less intimidating for students not ready to explain at length. Use them to kick off a conversation or quickly identify common issues—an ideal setup for follow-ups.
Question: How often do you use your school's counseling services?
Never
Once
A few times a year
Monthly or more
Question: If you needed to talk to a counselor, how comfortable would you feel making an appointment?
Very comfortable
Somewhat comfortable
Not sure
Uncomfortable
Very uncomfortable
Question: What topics would you most like help with from a school counselor?
Stress or anxiety
Schoolwork
Friendships or social issues
Family matters
Other
When to follow up with "why?" If a student selects "Uncomfortable" about seeing a counselor, always ask, “Why do you feel uncomfortable?” These simple follow-ups unlock crucial insights about trust and access barriers—like the fact that middle schoolers often cite confidentiality and rapport as key concerns. [1]
When and why to add the "Other" choice? If you include “Other,” use an optional follow-up so students can describe unique needs you hadn’t considered—great for tackling hidden challenges and uncovering new patterns that multiple-choice wouldn’t surface.
About 4% of adolescents between 12–17 have serious emotional or behavioral difficulties and have recently used mental health services. [2] Multiple-choice lets you quickly see if your usage rates align, helping you target outreach better.
Should you use an NPS-style question?
Net Promoter Score (NPS) isn’t just for businesses—it's a smart way to measure satisfaction and likelihood to recommend school counseling services. By asking, “On a scale from 0-10, how likely are you to recommend the counseling services at your school to a friend?” you instantly spot both super fans and detractors. The secret: this single score can reveal issues fast, especially in busy schools where one counselor may handle nearly 500 students. [3]
Try an NPS survey for middle school students about counseling services—the AI builder already has the smart follow-up system ready.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions bring your survey to life and make responses useful instead of vague. Instead of a static form, Specific’s AI asks smart, human-like follow-ups in real time—just like an experienced researcher probing gently for details. Automated followups also save you hours, since you won’t need to chase students down by email to clarify what they meant.
Take a look at these before-and-after examples:
Middle school student: “It was okay.”
AI follow-up: “Can you share what made the experience just okay? Was there something missing or something you appreciated?”
That extra nudge transforms a generic answer into actual feedback you can act on. Learn more in this guide to automated follow-up questions.
How many followups to ask? Usually, two or three well-placed follow-ups are enough to clarify meaning and get complete answers. Specific gives you full control—set a limit, or let the AI stop when it senses the answer is clear. That way students don’t get overwhelmed or bored, and every response becomes insightful.
This makes it a conversational survey: the interaction feels like a dialogue, not a form—students are much more likely to engage and share openly.
AI analysis, unstructured text, easy insights: Even with lots of open-ended answers, AI makes it easy to analyze and summarize all your responses with tools like Specific’s response analysis.
Automated follow-ups are new—give them a try by creating your own survey to see the difference for yourself.
How to prompt ChatGPT or other GPTs to come up with the best questions
Writing prompts for AI makes survey creation easy, but context always helps. Start simple, then add detail to get exactly what you need. Try this first prompt:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for middle school student survey about counseling services.
Now improve the output by giving more context about your situation, your goals, and the student audience. For example:
I want questions that help me understand what prevents students from using counseling services, especially around confidentiality, access issues, and social stigma. Suggest open-ended questions for middle schoolers, keeping language easy to understand.
After you get some questions, try this:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
From those categories, decide which areas you want to dig deeper. Then prompt again:
Generate 10 questions for categories such as “Barriers to access,” “Suggestions for improvement,” and “Emotional support needs.”
With the right prompt, the AI can help you build, iterate, and tailor your survey in minutes—see this in action with Specific’s AI survey builder or AI survey editor.
What is a conversational survey?
Conversational surveys go beyond forms and static lists—they engage students in a back-and-forth chat that’s interactive, adaptive, and natural. Instead of a wall of questions, the AI (or surveyor) tailors questions and follow-ups on the fly, just like in a real conversation. This approach is proven to boost participation and response quality, especially for teens who might be shy or unsure.
Manual Survey Creation | AI-Generated Conversational Survey (e.g., Specific) |
|---|---|
Manually brainstorm and type out questions one by one. | Describe your goal, and AI proposes questions instantly. |
No adaptive follow-up—static form only. | Dynamic AI follow-ups for clarity, depth, and richer insights. |
Time-consuming to analyze free-text answers. | AI analyzes, summarizes, and highlights trends automatically. |
Hard to keep students engaged throughout. | Feels like a chat—boosts engagement, completion rates. |
Why use AI for middle school student surveys? With students’ comfort and privacy at stake, AI survey examples eliminate barriers: they’re easy to take on mobile, allow truly open answers, and adapt in real-time. Plus, in schools where counselors serve hundreds of kids, automation means no good feedback gets lost. [3]
If you’re ready to see how seamless this can be, here’s a step-by-step guide to building your survey.
Specific delivers best-in-class conversational survey experiences—students feel like they’re chatting with a real person, and every insight is easy to find and analyze. Check out more AI survey examples or try out live survey demos to experience it firsthand.
See this counseling services survey example now
Ready for actionable insight—and better student wellbeing? See how a conversational, AI-powered survey gives you honest feedback and lets you understand what middle schoolers need from counseling services. Create your own AI-driven survey in minutes with dynamic follow-ups, easy analysis, and seamless student engagement.