Best questions for college doctoral student survey about access to research resources

Here are some of the best questions for a college doctoral student survey about access to research resources, along with top tips for designing them. If you want to quickly build or generate a survey like this, Specific can help you create it in seconds using AI.

10 essential open-ended questions for deeper insights

Open-ended questions let college doctoral students share the full context and nuance of their experiences with research resources. These questions work best when you’re seeking stories, challenges, or unmet needs, rather than just check-the-box responses. They help surface ideas and pain points that you may not have anticipated—an essential approach, especially when working with a diverse graduate community. Based on recent findings, 81% of researchers are already incorporating large language models (LLMs) into their work, so understanding detailed experiences is crucial for improving research support structures. [1]

1. What resources do you find most helpful for your research, and why?

2. Can you describe a time when you faced difficulty accessing a particular research resource?

3. How could your institution better support your research, specifically regarding resources?

4. In what ways have digital tools or AI made your research easier or more difficult?

5. If you could improve one aspect of the library or research database access, what would it be?

6. What types of resources do you wish were more readily available for doctoral research?

7. How do you address gaps in resource access when conducting your research?

8. Describe your experience with interlibrary loan or requests for materials not available on campus.

9. How do language, background, or discipline-specific needs affect your resource use?

10. What advice would you share with incoming doctoral students about navigating research resources?

Single-select multiple-choice: fast feedback, quick patterns

Single-select multiple-choice questions are ideal when you want to quantify student experiences or see at-a-glance trends in resource use. These can also serve as warm-up questions before diving into richer, open-ended discussions—they give structure without overwhelming the respondent. Sometimes, students find it easier to react to a shortlist rather than formulating their own answer right away, especially when discussing commonly-used research tools or support systems.

Question: Which of the following resources do you use most often for your research?

• University library databases

• Open-access journals

• AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Grammarly)

• Other

Question: How would you rate your overall ease of access to research materials?

• Very easy

• Somewhat easy

• Somewhat difficult

• Very difficult

Question: Which area do you feel needs the most improvement at your institution?

• Physical library resources

• Digital database access

• Interlibrary loan process

• AI tool availability

• Other

When to followup with "why?" Follow up with "why?" after a single-select choice when you want to turn a blunt data point into a story or explanation. For example, if a student selects "AI tools," ask, "Why do you rely on AI tools for your research?"—you’ll get valuable detail about motivations, gaps, or innovation.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Don’t forget to include "Other" as an option to let respondents share experiences outside your predefined list. Following up on "Other" often surfaces unique challenges or alternative solutions you hadn’t anticipated, leading to richer, more inclusive insights.

Should you use NPS for research resource surveys?

NPS (Net Promoter Score) measures how likely students are to recommend your research support services or resources to peers. While NPS originated in customer experience, it suits academic settings too. For doctoral students, asking “How likely are you to recommend your institution’s research resources to a colleague?” reveals overall satisfaction and loyalty—helpful when comparing departments or campuses. If you want a ready-made NPS survey for this purpose, you can generate one instantly and dig deeper into followup feedback.

The power of follow-up questions

Smart, automated follow-up questions can make your survey far more conversational and insightful. We’ve found that adding AI-powered follow-ups—like those built into Specific—not only clarifies ambiguous answers but also uncovers motivations, context, and details that standard forms miss. Find out more about how these work with automatic AI follow-up questions.

• Doctoral student: “I mainly use open-access journals.”

• AI follow-up: “What do you like about open-access journals compared to other resources you’ve used?”

How many followups to ask? In most cases, 2–3 follow-ups are enough to reach clarity and depth. It’s wise to allow respondents to skip to the next question if a detail’s been clarified—Specific’s settings let you fine-tune this balance.

This makes it a conversational survey. The result is a survey that feels less like a form and more like a chat, making it easier for respondents to share stories and feedback.

AI survey response analysis, qualitative data, text answers—AI makes it easy to analyze unstructured responses, identifying common themes and summarizing findings. Learn how to analyze open-ended responses efficiently.

Try generating a survey in Specific’s AI survey generator to experience firsthand how dynamic follow-ups deliver richer feedback effortlessly.

How to prompt ChatGPT to draft great questions for doctoral surveys

If you want an AI like ChatGPT to brainstorm or refine survey questions, start with a focused prompt. For example:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for college doctoral student survey about access to research resources.

You’ll get the best results when you provide more context—describe your audience, your research goals, and any specific challenges. Here’s a stronger version:

I’m designing a survey for doctoral students at a large university to understand barriers they face in accessing research resources, including databases, journals, and AI tools. Please suggest 10 open-ended questions that encourage detailed answers and explore both traditional and new digital resources.

Once you have a question list, ask ChatGPT to categorize them for easier structuring:

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

After reviewing the categories, ask ChatGPT to deepen the exploration in areas you care about most:

Generate 10 questions for categories Digital Resource Access and Resource Improvement Ideas.

What is a conversational survey and why does it matter?

A conversational survey feels like a real dialogue—not a bland form. With AI, your survey adapts follow-up questions in real time. This makes it engaging and approachable, a huge step up from clunky, static forms that often miss nuance.

Let’s break down the core difference:

Why use AI for college doctoral student surveys? AI survey examples—like those built in Specific—are proven to boost engagement and collect richer, more actionable data. With more than 86% of students already using AI in their academic life, a conversational approach matches expectations and feels intuitive. [2]

If you want a step-by-step guide, see how to create a college doctoral student survey on access to research resources—it covers everything from drafting to deploying your survey quickly.

With Specific, the survey creation, user experience, and analysis all feel seamless and tailored to how modern doctoral students actually work and think. It’s the new standard for capturing feedback in higher education.

See this Access to Research Resources survey example now

Get instant inspiration with interactive AI survey examples—see what an engaging, conversational research resource survey looks like, powered by automated follow-ups and AI-driven analysis. Your insights and feedback process will be sharper, faster, and more complete than ever.