Best questions for high school sophomore student survey about diversity and inclusion

Here are some of the best questions for a high school sophomore student survey about diversity and inclusion—and tips to make your survey insightful and conversational. If you need to build such a survey instantly, you can generate your own in seconds with Specific’s AI survey builder.

Best open-ended questions to ask high school sophomores about diversity and inclusion

Open-ended questions are where the real stories come out. Instead of simple yes/no answers, you get students’ honest thoughts. Open-ended questions work best when you’re after thoughtful feedback or want to surface unexpected insights. Let’s get straight to it—here are ten of the best open-ended prompts:

1. What does diversity mean to you at our school?

2. Can you share a time when you noticed someone being included or excluded? What happened?

3. How comfortable do you feel expressing your identity at school?

4. What can teachers and students do to make everyone feel more included?

5. In what ways do you see students from different backgrounds interacting at school?

6. Have you faced or witnessed any challenges related to diversity or inclusion here?

7. What changes would you suggest to improve diversity and inclusion at our school?

8. Who do you go to when you have concerns about feeling left out?

9. Are there activities or clubs you wish existed to promote inclusion?

10. What would make you feel safer or more accepted at school?

For a real-world impact, these types of questions can uncover stories and patterns that numbers alone can’t explain. Plus, with Specific, you can layer on smart follow-up questions to dig even deeper (see more on this in our guide on AI follow-up questions).

Single-select multiple-choice: when and what to ask

Sometimes you want to quantify opinions—how widespread a feeling is, or which barrier is the biggest. Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect when you want straightforward data, or to ease students into conversation before moving to richer, open prompts. They also help students who might find it easier to pick from clear options instead of crafting an answer from scratch.

Question: How included do you feel in your school community?

• Very included

• Somewhat included

• Not very included

• Not included at all

Question: Which of these areas do you think our school could improve most?

• Respect for different cultures

• Inclusion of students with disabilities

• Combating stereotypes

• Other

Question: Who has the biggest impact on making students feel included?

• Teachers

• Friends/classmates

• School administration

• Extracurricular leaders

When to followup with "why?" A follow-up "why?" is invaluable right after a student chooses an option, especially if you want to uncover context. For example, if a student selects “Not very included,” you could ask: “Why do you feel this way?” It opens the door to specific stories or obstacles you might not see otherwise.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Sometimes, your answer choices won’t cover every possibility. Including "Other" lets students surface experiences or ideas you hadn’t anticipated. When they choose it, always follow up with a prompt like, “Can you tell me more about what you had in mind?”; unexpected insights often come from these responses.

NPS-style question: does it work here?

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is usually for customer loyalty, but it translates incredibly well to school surveys when you want a quick pulse on belonging. For high school sophomores and diversity/inclusion, you could ask:

• “On a scale from 0–10, how likely are you to recommend our school to a friend interested in a diverse and inclusive environment?”

This turns a subjective feeling into a clear, measurable metric. It works as a powerful baseline—especially if you want to track progress over time or compare groups. NPS isn’t just for businesses: it’s a clear, proven method now part of many school climate surveys. If you want a ready-made template, you can generate an NPS survey here.

The power of follow-up questions

Richer insight comes from probing further. With traditional surveys, you get surface-level answers. With automated AI follow-up questions, you clarify, go deeper, and understand context in real time. That’s especially important when discussing nuanced topics like inclusion—one word answers just don’t cut it. Automated follow-ups save tons of back-and-forth, giving you clarity on the spot.

• Sophomore Student: “I don't always feel comfortable in class.”

• AI follow-up: “Could you share a moment that made you feel this way, or what would help you feel more comfortable?”

How many followups to ask? Usually, 2–3 follow-up questions are enough to understand the context, while keeping the conversation breezy. Specific allows you to configure this, and move to the next question anytime you feel you’ve collected enough detail.

This makes it a conversational survey—it feels like a chat, not a form. Respondents open up more and surveys get finished at much higher rates.

AI survey response analysis is a game changer—analyzing all those open-responses is a breeze now (learn more in our AI survey response analysis guide). AI can summarize, extract themes, and make sense of unstructured answers fast, no matter how many students you survey.

Automated AI follow-ups are still new, but they make old-fashioned forms look outdated. Try creating your own AI-powered survey and see how much richer your data gets when each answer leads to the next great question.

Prompt engineering: get better AI-generated questions

AI-powered tools can suggest excellent survey questions, but the trick is how you prompt them. Start simply:

Ask:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for High School Sophomore Student survey about Diversity And Inclusion.

But for deeper, more customized questions, give extra context—describe your goals, the environment, or the types of stories you’re after:

I’m a teacher at a suburban high school looking to understand how sophomore students feel about diversity and inclusion on campus. Our student body is diverse, but I’m not sure if all students feel included or represented. Suggest 10 open-ended questions to uncover both general perceptions and specific experiences.

Then, prompt AI to organize and deepen your survey:

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

Finally, drill down into the themes you want most:

Generate 10 questions for categories “Sense of belonging” and “Barriers to inclusion”.

What is a conversational survey—and why use AI?

Conversational surveys blend a chat-like format with smart AI, creating something far more engaging than old-school web forms. Instead of boring lists to fill, students answer one question at a time, with tailored follow-ups—just like talking with a real (and expert) person. This natural Q&A style increases both completion rates and the honesty of replies. Modern survey AI tools build these experiences in no time.

Let’s compare:

Why use AI for high school sophomore student surveys? Schools need input from all voices quickly, but students are busy—and skeptical of lengthy forms. AI survey examples like Specific’s let you launch, improve, and deeply analyze feedback fast. And students already expect digital solutions: 86% of all students globally use AI tools for schoolwork, and almost a quarter use them daily [2]. You can meet them where they are, with a format they're comfortable with.

Specific has been at the forefront of conversational survey innovation—our how-to guide for creating high school sophomore student surveys about diversity and inclusion walks you step-by-step from idea to launch. Explore it, or jump right into building your own AI survey with our all-in-one builder and simple editing tools.

See this diversity and inclusion survey example now

Get meaningful student feedback with a conversational survey that feels like a chat—engaging, insightful, and easy for everyone. Take the next step: start your own survey today and discover answers you can actually use.