Here are some of the best questions for a student survey about research opportunities, along with practical tips on creating them. You can use Specific to generate your own with powerful follow-ups in seconds.
Best open-ended questions for student survey about research opportunities
Open-ended questions invite students to share their unique experiences and ideas, driving richer insights than yes/no questions. These work best when we want to dig deeper or surface missed issues that multiple-choice can’t capture. Here are the 10 best to start with:
What factors most influence your decision to participate in research opportunities?
Can you describe any barriers you’ve faced when trying to get involved in research?
How did you first hear about research opportunities available to students?
What type of research projects interest you most, and why?
Tell us about a positive or negative research experience you’ve had so far.
What resources or support would make it easier for you to get involved in research?
How do you feel research opportunities are communicated at your institution?
What skills or knowledge would you hope to gain from participating in research?
If you haven’t participated yet, what’s the main reason holding you back?
What suggestions do you have for improving student access to research opportunities?
When we look at recent studies, we see that over half of surveyed students report not engaging in research primarily due to lack of access, academic pressure, or time constraints. Barriers like these are best explored through open questions that let students voice their full story. [1]
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for student survey about research opportunities
Single-select multiple-choice questions are great when we need to quantify opinions or spot trends across a group. These also work well during initial contact because students often find it easier to choose from a list rather than craft a long-form answer. These questions pave the way for follow-up conversations and can be a springboard for deeper insight—especially with built-in follow-ups.
Question: What is your current level of involvement in research projects?
I have participated in one or more research projects
I have shown interest but haven’t participated yet
I am not interested in participating
Other
Question: What is the biggest barrier preventing your participation in research opportunities?
Lack of awareness about available projects
Lack of time due to coursework
Insufficient support or mentoring
Other
Question: Where do you most often learn about research opportunities?
University newsletter or website
Faculty or staff recommendations
Peers or student groups
Social media
Other
When to followup with "why?" Whenever someone selects an option, especially about barriers or preferences, following up with “Why did you choose this?” can unlock crucial motivations and context. For example, if a student selects “Lack of awareness,” a good follow-up might be: “Can you tell us more about what made it difficult to find information?”
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Including “Other” lets us catch anything we didn’t anticipate—students can share a barrier or channel nobody had on their radar. Follow-up questions for “Other” responses can uncover new issues or effective communication strategies we didn’t expect.
NPS question for student survey about research opportunities
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a powerful benchmark for gauging overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend. In the context of research opportunities, an NPS-style question like “How likely are you to recommend participating in student research projects to your peers?” simplifies measurement while surfacing advocacy and obstacles. It’s quick for students to answer and a great entry point for actionable follow-up. Try a ready-made NPS survey for students about research opportunities to see how this works in action.
The power of follow-up questions
We’re big believers in the value of follow-up questions, especially when done automatically by AI. Instead of collecting vague or short answers, Specific’s automatic AI follow-up questions feature digs deeper, prompting for clarity, examples, or rationale based on what the respondent just said—just like an expert interviewer. This saves a ton of time compared to manual email chases and keeps the feedback authentic and detailed.
Student: “I haven’t joined any research projects because I didn’t have enough time.”
AI follow-up: “Can you share more about your schedule? Are there specific times when participating would be easier for you?”
Without the follow-up, we’d only guess what “not enough time” really means—missing out on when students might actually be available or what other barriers are at play.
How many followups to ask? In our experience, 2–3 follow-up questions per topic are enough to get meaningful detail, but it’s just as important to allow students to move on when they’ve already shared what we need. Specific lets you fine-tune this—so you always get rich feedback, not fatigue.
This makes it a conversational survey: Instead of a cold form, we’re having a real conversation, building trust and drawing out deeper answers organically.
AI survey analysis: Even though we collect a lot of text through these follow-up questions, analyzing the responses is simple. With AI-powered survey analysis, you can ask the platform for key themes or summaries, turning unstructured insights into actionable tasks and clear direction.
These automated follow-ups are a new way to make surveys smarter—and worth trying firsthand with Specific’s conversational survey builder.
How to write a prompt for coming up with great questions
Crafting prompts for ChatGPT or other large language models is about clarity and context. Start simple to generate creative question sets, then narrow focus with follow-ups. For example, to get a basic list:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for student survey about research opportunities.
If you want better results, always give more context about your goal and your audience. That might look like:
I am designing a survey aimed at first-year university students to understand barriers and motivations regarding research project participation. Suggest 10 open-ended questions to uncover factors that would motivate more involvement, explore knowledge gaps, and discover hidden student needs.
Next, ask the AI to sort your findings:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
From here, zero in on whichever category matters most in your context:
Generate 10 questions for categories "Barriers to Participation" and "Communication Channels".
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey is a new kind of feedback tool—driven by AI but fueled by natural back-and-forth, not static forms. Instead of just collecting rigid answers, you spark a dialogue, adjusting questions on the fly and prompting for more detail when it matters most. This is miles apart from the click-next monotony of legacy survey platforms.
Let’s break down the difference:
Manual Survey Creation | AI-Generated Survey with Specific |
|---|---|
Static, needs manual updates for every round | AI dynamically updates questions based on your prompt and feedback |
Flat, form-based user experience | Conversational, adaptive, feels like chatting with an expert |
Tedious data analysis, especially with open-ends | Automatic AI summaries and insights, even for unstructured replies |
No smart follow-ups—risks incomplete feedback | AI-driven follow-ups for clarification and depth |
Why use AI for student surveys? The power of AI lies in removing friction for both creators and respondents—build, analyze, and iterate without heavy lifting. Students are more likely to engage when the process feels conversational and intuitive. With efficiency gains noted in recent studies—AI tools saving teachers up to six hours of work weekly and driving 90% faster assignment processing—the advantages are clear for education teams too. [2] [3]
If you’re ready to dive in, you’ll see why Specific’s AI survey generator delivers the smoothest experience for conversational survey creation, live editing (AI survey editor), and actionable response analysis. You can even read more on how to create a survey for students about research opportunities step-by-step.
See this research opportunities survey example now
Jumpstart your own survey—see our student research opportunities example, experience the AI-driven follow-ups, and turn every response into real insight. Specific’s conversational surveys capture authentic, in-depth feedback from students easily and efficiently.