Best questions for middle school student survey about digital citizenship and online safety

Here are some of the best questions for a Middle School Student survey about digital citizenship and online safety, plus tips on how to create them. You can instantly generate your own tailored survey using Specific’s AI-powered survey builder.

Best open-ended questions for middle schoolers about digital citizenship and online safety

Open-ended questions are unbeatable for surfacing real stories, thoughts, and emotions. They help us truly hear from students in their own words, especially when we want honest reflections instead of one-word answers or checkbox responses. These are perfect if you want deeper feedback, nuanced insights, or to spot trends you hadn’t even thought of. Here are ten must-have open-ended prompts for your survey:

1. How do you decide what’s safe to share online with others and why?

2. Can you share a time when you or someone you know felt uncomfortable or unsafe online?

3. What advice would you give to classmates for protecting their privacy on social media?

4. Describe any tools or strategies you use to keep your online accounts secure.

5. Have you ever helped a friend who was being cyberbullied? Tell us what you did.

6. What do you think schools could do to help students stay safer online?

7. How do you decide if a website or online post is trustworthy?

8. When you see something inappropriate online, what actions do you usually take?

9. How do your parents or guardians talk to you about using the internet safely?

10. What is one change you would make to improve online safety for students your age?

Open questions encourage richer insights—especially valuable when only 45% of parents regularly monitor their children’s online activities, so you might discover safety blind spots or creative coping skills. [1]

Best single-select multiple-choice questions

Single-select multiple-choice questions work best when you need clear data to quantify opinions, measure frequency, or spark conversation with an easy entry point. It can be much easier (and less intimidating) for a middle school student to choose from a list—setting the stage for a followup question to dig deeper.

Question: How often do you talk with your parents or guardians about online safety?

• Every week

• Every month

• Less than once a month

• Never

Question: Which of the following is your biggest concern when using social media?

• Cyberbullying

• Privacy

• Inappropriate content

• Getting hacked

• Other

Question: Have you ever changed your privacy settings on a social media platform?

• Yes, regularly

• Occasionally

• Never

When to followup with "why?" A quick "why?" after a selection (for example, after a student chooses “Privacy” as their biggest concern) helps dig out real reasons, motivations, and stories. This makes the data more actionable than any static survey can by itself.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? "Other" works best when your answer options might miss unique experiences. Smart follow-up questions can uncover those surprises, like a student worried about “peer pressure to post” that you hadn’t thought to ask about directly.

NPS question: does it fit for digital citizenship and online safety?

NPS (Net Promoter Score) isn’t just for customer loyalty; it works for gauging student advocacy too. For example, you could ask: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend safe online habits to your friends?” This gives a baseline for how strongly middle schoolers believe in digital citizenship, and the follow-up “what’s the reason for your score?” reveals blockers or motivators. When 28% of middle school students experience cyberbullying, understanding how willing they are to promote positive habits matters. [1] Try building an NPS-style survey for digital citizenship in seconds.

The power of follow-up questions

Static forms only tell half the story. Automated AI follow-up questions in Specific seamlessly probe, clarify, and dive deeper right as the respondent is answering—much like a seasoned interviewer. In digital citizenship surveys, this means you don’t just find out if someone changed their privacy settings; you find out what triggered it, the challenges they faced, or what might make the process easier.

• Middle school student: “I saw something weird online once.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you describe what you saw and how you responded?”

The difference is huge: vague responses become actionable insights, while conversational surveys keep students feeling heard instead of interrogated.

How many followups to ask? Usually, 2-3 follow-ups is the sweet spot for getting genuine detail without exhausting the respondent. With Specific, you can set a “move on” trigger once you’ve got the info you need—keeping the flow natural.

This makes it a conversational survey: Instead of static forms, you’re having a chat that feels supportive and real. That’s the key to a great engagement rate and honest answers.

AI analysis, unstructured text: Even if open-ended questions generate lots of messy, unstructured responses, it’s easy to see top themes using AI analysis tools. Complex, text-heavy surveys are no longer a headache to review.

Curious? Try generating a conversational digital citizenship survey and see how AI follow-ups bring clarity to every answer.

How to prompt ChatGPT (or other GPTs) for survey question ideas

You can brainstorm great questions for a digital citizenship survey by prompting an AI like ChatGPT. Start with:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Middle School Student survey about Digital Citizenship And Online Safety.

But you’ll get stronger results by giving the AI context—describe your audience, school environment, goals, and any concerns. For instance:

I work with middle school students from diverse backgrounds. I want to survey them about digital citizenship and online safety, focusing on cyberbullying, privacy, and social media use. Suggest 10 open-ended questions that encourage honest sharing.

Next, have ChatGPT organize the questions:

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

Review the categories. Maybe you decide privacy and cyberbullying matter most—then prompt:

Generate 10 questions for the “Privacy Online” and “Cyberbullying” categories in a middle school student survey.

This method helps you drill down for the most relevant, targeted questions every single time.

What’s a conversational survey? Why it matters for digital citizenship and safety

A conversational survey uses AI to turn structured interviews into a natural-feeling chat. Unlike the old “tick the box” forms, these surveys adapt as students respond, ask for clarification, and go deeper where it matters. This makes feedback both richer and more honest—critical for sensitive topics like digital citizenship where some students may struggle to open up.

Why use AI for middle school student surveys? With 70% of middle schoolers using social platforms daily and 40% encountering inappropriate content online, [1] you need feedback that’s honest and up-to-date. AI survey examples and conversational formats engage students—leading to higher completion rates, deeper answers, and insights actionable for teachers and school leaders. If you want to learn more about building a strong survey, check out this step-by-step guide to making a digital citizenship survey for middle schoolers.

With Specific, everything from AI survey generation to in-depth, conversational feedback and response analysis is simple, fast, and made for real engagement. It’s a modern, best-in-class experience for both survey creators and middle school respondents.

See this digital citizenship and online safety survey example now

Ready to design a digital citizenship and online safety survey? Start with engaging, AI-powered questions and powerful conversational follow-ups—get deeper, honest insights in minutes, and experience how Specific makes survey creation effortless and fun.