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How to create ex-cult member survey about coercive control experiences

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Adam Sabla

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Aug 22, 2025

Create your survey

This article will guide you on how to create an Ex-Cult Member survey about Coercive Control Experiences. With Specific, you can build your survey in seconds—just generate and refine with ease.

Steps to create a survey for ex-cult members about coercive control experiences

If you want to save time, just click this link to generate a survey with Specific. Creating high-quality, conversational surveys has never been easier thanks to AI survey builders like Specific. Here’s how you do it:

  1. Tell what survey you want.

  2. Done.

You honestly don’t need to read further—the AI will instantly build the survey for you with expert-level quality. It will even ask your respondents targeted follow-up questions to capture deeper insights, so you can focus on what matters instead of manual survey setup.

Why surveying ex-cult members about coercive control experiences matters

Surveys focused on ex-cult members and their experiences of coercive control aren’t just checkboxes—they’re vital data streams for recovery, research, and creating better support systems. Let’s break down why these surveys matter:

  • We get access to hard-to-reach insight. Many former cult members struggle alone, and structured feedback uncovers unique needs otherwise missed.

  • It guides real-world interventions—whether for therapy, advocacy, or public education, it starts with knowing the nuanced challenges that ex-cult members face.

  • By surfacing common patterns, we can develop resources that actually work, not just what we assume is helpful.

Here’s a striking data point: 36% of former cult members report experiencing serious emotional problems after leaving their group, and 24% seek professional help [1]. If you’re not running these targeted feedback projects, you’re missing out on critical information that's rarely captured through traditional means. The importance of ex-cult member recognition surveys is underscored by the reality that about 60% report difficulty reintegrating into society [2]. In practice, the benefits of ex-cult member feedback go beyond data—they shape every future outreach, support program, and funding request with real-world stories and numbers.

What makes a good survey on coercive control experiences

Crafting meaningful Coercive Control Experiences surveys boils down to clarity, neutrality, and empathy. The goal is to balance emotionally sensitive topics with straightforward, unbiased questions. This invites honest, diverse responses—so nothing is lost in translation or filtered out of discomfort.

People respond best to questions that feel like a conversation, not an interrogation. Keeping the language warm, non-judgmental, and inviting is key for any ex-cult member survey. This conversational tone helps respondents open up about deeply personal or traumatic coercive control experiences, which you simply can’t get from a cold checklist.

Here’s a quick visual for what works—and what to avoid:

Bad practices

Good practices

Leading or biased questions
“Did your group force you to do things you knew were wrong?”

Neutral, open questions
“Can you describe some experiences where you felt pressured or controlled by your group?”

Overly clinical language
“Rate your psychosocial adjustment post-cult exit.”

Conversational, relatable tone
“How did life change for you after you left the group?”

Too many yes/no questions

Mix of open-ended, multiple-choice, and follow-ups for context

The marker of a successful conversational survey here is both quantity and quality of responses. More entries mean more voices are heard; meaningful, context-rich answers drive impactful analysis.

Question types with examples for ex-cult member survey about coercive control experiences

Survey design is more than picking a few questions—it’s about choosing the right format for the answers you need. Let’s quickly unpack the main types:

Open-ended questions let ex-cult members express their experiences in their own words. They’re best for understanding nuances and personal context. Use these when you’re exploring complex emotional topics or want to uncover themes you might not have predicted.

  • “Can you share an example of how your group tried to control your choices or thinking?”

  • “How has your perception of relationships changed since leaving the group?”

Single-select multiple-choice questions streamline responses for easy analysis, while still providing useful structure. Go for these when you’re measuring frequency, prevalence, or categorical experiences.

Which form of coercive control did you most commonly experience?

  • Isolation from non-members

  • Financial control

  • Fear-based motivation

  • Strict rule enforcement

  • Something else (please specify)

NPS (Net Promoter Score) question is ideal for measuring overall sentiment or advocacy, even in sensitive or trauma-affected populations. For example, you might use it to assess satisfaction with support resources post-exit. You can generate a tailored NPS survey for ex-cult members here.

On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our support program to another ex-cult member?

Followup questions to uncover "the why": The real breakthrough often comes from probing for context. Follow-ups clarify initial responses, revealing motivations, obstacles, or underlying emotions. Use them any time you sense ambiguity or want richer insight.

  • What made you feel most isolated at the time?

  • Can you describe a key moment when you realized the control was harmful?

Want to see more sample questions tailored for ex-cult member surveys, and tips on getting more in-depth answers? Check out our question design tips for ex-cult member surveys about coercive control experiences.

What is a conversational survey?

A conversational survey feels less like a form and more like an interactive chat. With AI-generated surveys, you skip tedious form-building—an AI survey generator can compose nuanced, dynamic interviews in seconds, adapting its tone and flow to match your audience. Traditional survey tools often lock you into rigid structures; AI survey builders, by contrast, create flexible, respondent-friendly conversations that actually capture emotion and depth.

Manual survey creation

AI-generated survey

  • Time-consuming setup

  • Static questions, no follow-ups

  • Inconsistent tone

  • Harder to scale or adjust

  • Instant, expert-level questions

  • Dynamic follow-up probes

  • Consistent, empathetic language

  • Easy to edit and iterate with tools like Specific’s AI Survey Editor

Why use AI for ex-cult member surveys? Surveying sensitive topics like coercive control demands agility, empathy, and context-awareness. AI tools understand nuances, adapt questions, and probe naturally—things forms simply can’t do. If you want to see step-by-step how to create a survey, check our comprehensive guide to survey creation and response analysis. Specific provides a best-in-class conversational survey experience—smooth, empathetic, and built for both creators and respondents.

If you're searching for an AI survey example or want to see AI survey generation in action, you're in the right place. With Specific, AI-generated conversational surveys aren't just easier—they produce richer, more actionable responses.

The power of follow-up questions

Automated follow-up questions can turn single-word or ambiguous responses into deeply insightful stories—and this is one of the main reasons conversational surveys outperform static forms. Specific’s advanced AI uses respondent’s previous answers to ask smart, context-aware follow-ups in real time—just like a skilled researcher would. This saves teams from manual email follow-ups and uncovers details that standard surveys never find. For more on this breakthrough feature, check our in-depth look at automatic AI follow-up questions.

  • Ex-Cult Member: “They controlled my finances.”

  • AI follow-up: “Can you give an example of how your finances were controlled, and how it made you feel at the time?”

How many followups to ask? Generally, 2-3 follow-up questions are enough to draw out the full context, but not overwhelm the respondent. With Specific, you can set this preference and even allow respondents to skip if they’ve already said everything they need.

This makes it a conversational survey—where “why” and “how” matter as much as “what.” The result is more meaningful, human responses every time.

AI survey analysis is a breeze too, even when top answers are long and unstructured. You can instantly chat with AI about the results using tools like AI survey response analysis, making it easy to synthesize insights from even the most narrative replies.

This new approach to surveys—dynamic conversation powered by automatic follow-ups—is a game changer. Try generating a conversational survey and experience it firsthand.

See this coercive control experiences survey example now

Test drive the fastest way to create your own survey—unlock better, deeper feedback with AI-driven conversational surveys that adapt to your respondents and maximize valuable insights.

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Sources

  1. International Cultic Studies Association. Approximately 36% of former cult members reported experiencing serious emotional problems after leaving their groups, with 24% seeking professional help for these issues.

  2. WiFiTalents - Cult Statistics. About 60% of former cult members experience difficulty reintegrating into society.

  3. International Cultic Studies Association, Research Articles. Psychological problems among former cult members.

Adam Sabla - Image Avatar

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.