Survey template: Ex-Cult Member survey about belief changes

Changing core beliefs after leaving a group is tough, and creating the right Ex-Cult Member Belief Changes survey to truly understand those shifts has always been a challenge. That’s why we recommend you use and try this template—Specific lets you generate a nuanced and effective AI survey in minutes, guiding you with expert-designed, conversational tools.

What is a conversational survey and why AI makes it better for ex-cult member research

For anyone exploring belief changes with ex-cult members, the core problem with old-fashioned surveys is that they rarely go deep enough. Too often, traditional surveys feel impersonal or get stuck with unclear, surface-level answers. Specific’s AI survey template flips that experience on its head with conversational surveys—a friendlier, more human approach to collecting sensitive feedback.

Conversational surveys mimic a chat—where the AI not only asks your initial questions, but also follows up like a thoughtful interviewer. This dynamic style creates a safe space for ex-cult members to share insights into their personal belief journeys. Here’s how the manual and AI-generated surveys stack up:

Why use AI for ex-cult member surveys?

• More engagement, higher completion: Conversational surveys driven by AI have boosted completion rates by up to 40% compared to static forms, especially with sensitive topics like belief change. [1]

• Personalized experience: The AI adapts in real-time, tailoring follow-ups to each respondent’s story and language.

• Higher-quality data: Dynamic follow-up uncovers context and subtle shifts traditional forms miss—critical for honest self-reflection among ex-cult members.

With Specific, the experience is effortless for both creators and respondents. You build sophisticated, conversational surveys via chat—no complicated editors or forms—and your participants enjoy a warm, guided exchange. Dive deeper into best practices with our guide on best questions for ex-cult member belief change surveys.

Automatic follow-up questions based on previous reply

One of the toughest sticking points in ex-cult member belief change research is follow-up. If you can’t probe responses in real time, you’re left either chasing people later or sifting through confusing, partial feedback. With Specific’s conversational AI survey templates, the AI automatically crafts smart, on-the-fly follow-up questions—like a skilled interviewer picking up on the thread of the conversation.

This saves hours of manual follow-up (no more email chasing or missed context) and leads to richer, clearer insights. Here’s a concrete example:

• Ex-Cult Member: “I just realized things weren’t like I was taught.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you share a specific teaching you now see differently? How did that realization affect your beliefs?”

Without follow-ups like these, you risk collecting vague answers that require clarification later:

• Ex-Cult Member: “I struggled a lot.”

• AI follow-up: “What was the biggest struggle for you after leaving, and how did you handle it?”

Curious to see how this deepens your data? Generate a conversational survey and put these AI follow-ups to the test in your own context. Each exchange feels like a real conversation, blurring the line between survey and personal interview. That’s why these surveys are truly conversational.

For a closer look at how it works, check out the automatic AI follow-up questions feature in more detail.

Easy editing, like magic

We all know survey edits can be a pain—tweaking wording, changing the flow, or adding new questions after you’ve already sent things out. Specific changes the game: editing your conversational survey is as easy as chatting with the AI. Tell it what you want changed (“make the tone more supportive,” “add a section about family relationships,” or “rephrase this question for clarity”) and the platform does the work.

No struggling with complex editors or reformatting; you see changes in seconds. The AI’s built-in subject matter knowledge means the edits not only match your intent but also align with best survey practices. Learn more about this smooth workflow on the AI survey editor feature page.

Share and deliver your survey anywhere

Delivering your belief changes survey to ex-cult members should be simple and strategic. With Specific, you have two core options—each designed for different research scenarios:

• Sharable landing page surveys: Simply distribute a private link by email, in support groups, or anywhere your community gathers. Perfect for:

  • Wide outreach (e.g., sharing in ex-cult survivor networks)

  • Inviting anonymous or confidential participation

  • Collecting stories at any pace, without needing a tech platform

• In-product surveys: If your audience logs into an online resource, forum, or support platform, embed the conversational survey directly in your website or app. This is ideal for:

  • Capturing feedback during key moments (e.g., after reading educational material on belief support)

  • Offering tailored follow-up as soon as someone indicates big shifts in thinking

  • Targeting users who are already active in a safe online space

Your audience and the nature of belief change conversations might make the landing page approach the go-to for most ex-cult member research, thanks to its reach and privacy. But if you run a member platform, in-product surveys can catch fresh insights as they're happening. Explore the pros and cons of each option in our guides for landing page conversational surveys and in-product conversational surveys.

AI-powered survey analysis—no spreadsheets needed

Manually sorting open-ended feedback is overwhelming—especially when belief change journeys feature nuanced, highly personal stories. With Specific, AI survey analysis is automatic. The system instantly distills key themes, highlights patterns, and generates actionable insights from every response (including open-text answers) so you can focus on what matters next.

Use features like automatic topic detection or chat directly with the AI to explore specific journeys—analyzing survey responses with AI feels as natural as continuing your research interview. For a deep dive into this capability, check out our resource on how to analyze Ex-Cult Member Belief Changes survey responses with AI or learn about our AI survey response analysis feature.

Use this Belief Changes survey template now

Start generating richer, more meaningful insight on belief changes among ex-cult members—use this AI survey template and experience effortless conversational research, AI-powered analysis, and best-in-class editing from Specific. Or, if you want to create a custom survey about anything else from scratch, try the AI survey generator directly.