Best questions for middle school student survey about extracurricular activities

Here are some of the best questions for a Middle School Student survey about extracurricular activities, along with practical tips on how to create them. You can instantly build an effective conversational survey tailored to your needs using Specific.

Best open-ended questions for a middle school student survey about extracurricular activities

Open-ended questions spark genuine conversation, letting middle school students give deeper, more nuanced answers. They're essential when you want the real story or need context around participation, motivation, or challenges. The benefits? You get to the “why” behind their choices, providing actionable feedback instead of guesswork.

Students involved in extracurricular activities have shown improved self-confidence, stronger social skills, and reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression, all of which are difficult to capture with only tick-box questions. Open-ended feedback uncovers what makes these experiences matter to them and why. [1] [2]

1. What extracurricular activities are you currently participating in, and why did you choose them?

2. If you could start any new club or activity at school, what would it be and why?

3. Can you describe a time when an extracurricular activity helped you learn something new about yourself?

4. What do you enjoy most about your favorite after-school activity?

5. Are there any challenges or obstacles that make it hard for you to join extracurricular activities?

6. How do your extracurricular activities help you build friendships or connect with others?

7. What’s one thing you wish could be improved about the current clubs or sports at school?

8. How do you balance your schoolwork with your extracurricular activities?

9. Have any activities you’ve tried made you more interested in a future career or hobby?

10. If you don’t participate in any activities right now, what would make you want to try one?

Best multiple-choice questions for middle school student survey about extracurricular activities

Single-select multiple-choice questions are best when you want to quantify common preferences, barriers, or motivations among students. They also work well as conversation starters—sometimes it's easier for middle schoolers to select an option before expressing their own thoughts in follow-up questions.

Question: Which type of extracurricular activity interests you the most?

• Sports

• Music or Performing Arts

• STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Clubs

• Community Service

• Other

Question: What is the biggest reason you participate in extracurricular activities?

• To make new friends

• To learn new skills

• For fun and relaxation

• For college or academic achievement

Question: How often do you participate in school-sponsored activities each week?

• Never

• 1-2 times

• 3-4 times

• 5 or more times

When to followup with "why?" If a student selects an option, asking “why?” afterwards unpacks the reasoning behind their choice. For example, if someone chooses "STEM clubs," a great follow-up might be: "Why do you find STEM clubs interesting?" This adds a layer of qualitative depth and reveals motivations, which are crucial for understanding how extracurricular activities drive engagement and academic growth. Research shows that students who are engaged in the right activities are more likely to see improvements in GPA and overall well-being. [1]

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always add "Other" when you suspect some students' preferences or barriers aren't captured by your listed options—this often uncovers the unexpected. If they choose "Other," prompt with “Can you describe your answer?” That’s where new ideas (or overlooked needs) show up, helping you design even better activities or support systems.

Should you use a net promoter score (NPS) question for middle school students?

NPS, or Net Promoter Score, is a simple and powerful tool often used to measure satisfaction and overall sentiment. Adapting it for a middle school student survey about extracurricular activities makes a lot of sense: it gives you a quick read on how likely students are to recommend these activities to their friends—which directly reflects engagement and satisfaction.

A typical NPS question for this context would be: "On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend participating in extracurricular activities at our school to a friend?" This can be followed by “Why did you give that score?” to capture specific praise or concerns. Try the NPS survey builder for middle school students to automatically include this question and the right follow-ups.

The power of follow-up questions

If you want to truly understand students’ thinking about extracurricular activities, nothing beats smart, real-time follow-up questions. With automated AI followups, Specific turns every survey into a living conversation—probing for details, clarifying vague answers, and surfacing actionable insights instantly.

Let’s look at what happens without followups:

• Student: “I like the art club.”

• AI follow-up: “What do you enjoy most about the art club, and how has it helped you?”

Without that extra nudge, you’re left with shallow data. With well-timed probing, you get rich, personal context—making your survey truly interactive and insightful.

How many followups to ask? In most cases, two to three follow-up questions are enough to get meaningful detail without making the conversation feel like an interrogation. Specific lets you set these parameters, including when to skip to the next question once you’ve got what you need.

This makes it a conversational survey—not a static form—so students feel heard, increasing participation and candor. That’s what sets Specific and AI-powered surveys apart.

Survey response analysis is now dramatically easier. Platforms like Specific use AI to summarize lots of unstructured feedback in seconds, letting you quickly analyze all your middle school student responses and surface the main themes. Learn more about how AI survey response analysis works.

AI-driven followups are a game-changer. If you haven’t tried it, generate a survey and experience the difference for yourself!

How to prompt ChatGPT (or any GPT) to write great questions for a middle school student extracurricular survey

You can use AI to brainstorm and organize excellent questions—just give enough detail for context. Start with this prompt:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Middle School Student survey about Extracurricular Activities.

But don’t stop there. If you add more context, you get better results. For example, specify your goals or what you already know:

I am a school counselor designing a survey for middle school students to understand what types of extracurricular activities interest them most, and why some students don’t participate. Please suggest 10 open-ended questions, with an emphasis on uncovering barriers and motivations.

Next, group your results by theme:

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

Then, pick themes like “Barriers to Participation” or “Favorite Activities” and dig even deeper:

Generate 10 questions for the category “Barriers to Participation”.

This method works for any topic and helps you focus on what really matters to your audience.

What is a conversational survey?

A conversational survey is not just a static list of questions—it’s an engaging, two-way exchange where the survey adapts and probes like a real interviewer. The best conversational surveys use AI to ask the right follow-ups, stay relevant, and make the whole process more enjoyable and insightful.

The difference is clear:

With tools like the AI survey generator, you can design, launch, and analyze a conversational survey for middle school students about extracurricular activities in record time. This unlocks more honest, complete, and actionable feedback for your school or research project.

Why use AI for middle school student surveys? Students respond better to conversational formats, providing richer stories and clearer feedback. An AI survey example built with Specific can adapt instantly to their responses, probe for context, and save everyone time compared to traditional surveys. Plus, the experience is enjoyable for both survey creators and respondents.

If you want to see a step-by-step guide, check out our article on how to create a middle school student survey about extracurricular activities with Specific.

Specific is recognized for its best-in-class user experience in conversational surveys—making the feedback process seamless, accessible, and engaging at every step.

See this extracurricular activities survey example now

Get authentic insights from middle school students in minutes—use conversational AI surveys to uncover what drives (or blocks) participation in extracurricular activities and easily discover themes you’d miss with traditional forms. Start creating your own survey and unlock richer, actionable feedback today.