Best questions for middle school student survey about reading habits

Here are some of the best questions for a middle school student survey about reading habits, plus tips on designing the perfect survey. You can build a complete survey like this with Specific in seconds.

What are the best open-ended questions for a middle school student survey about reading habits?

Open-ended questions uncover what students truly think about reading—going beyond yes/no answers. They work best when we want to explore students’ attitudes, experiences, or motivations. Open-ended questions give space for detail and context, especially when we’re after ideas or stories.

1. What kinds of books or stories do you enjoy most, and why?

2. Can you describe a book you recently finished or are currently reading? What did you think of it?

3. Tell me about your favorite time and place to read. Why do you like it?

4. What makes you want to start reading a new book? Is it a person, a topic, or something else?

5. How do you decide which books to read?

6. What do you usually do when you find a book boring or too difficult?

7. Can you remember a story or character that stuck with you? Why was it memorable?

8. How do you feel when you see others reading around you? Does it affect your habits?

9. Who influences your reading the most—parents, teachers, friends, or someone else? How?

10. If you could change one thing about reading at school or home, what would it be?

These questions support qualitative feedback and context. Given that a 2024 survey found 49% of students from 1st to 12th grade reported spending no time reading for pleasure on weekdays, it’s crucial to dig deeper and understand the “why” behind disengagement or enthusiasm. [1] Understanding students’ experiences helps tailor programs to better support them. For more on generating questions, visit our AI survey generator.

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for a middle school student survey about reading habits

We reach for single-select multiple-choice questions when we want to gather quantifiable data or make it easier for students to respond. These are perfect as icebreakers, for quick checks, or to guide toward deeper follow-up. It’s less effort for them to select an option, which might get the conversation started before open-ended or probing questions dig further. Here are examples:

Question: How often do you read for fun outside of school?

• Every day

• Several times a week

• Once a week

• Rarely or never

• Other

Question: What type of reading do you enjoy the most?

• Fiction books

• Non-fiction books

• Comics or graphic novels

• Magazines or articles

• Other

Question: Who usually helps you pick out books to read?

• Parents or family

• Teachers or librarians

• Friends

• I choose myself

• Other

When to follow up with “why?” Often, if a student gives an unexpected or extreme answer (“Rarely or never”), a simple “Why is that?” or “Can you tell me more?” unlocks underlying reasons. That’s how we get from raw data to genuine insight—and why tools like Specific, with automated follow-ups, are so valuable.

When and why to add the “Other” choice? Choose “Other” when you know your list of options may miss unique cases—then prompt for details in a follow-up. This way, unexpected insights can surface, giving you a richer data set to analyze. Our how-to guide on survey creation explores this further.

NPS-style question: Does it make sense for middle school reading surveys?

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) isn’t just for businesses. In the context of reading habits, it helps measure how likely students are to recommend reading to their peers—a quick pulse on reading culture. Framing it as, “How likely are you to recommend reading for fun to a friend?” opens the door to real sentiment. If the score is low, follow up by asking why—they might reveal what’s missing or what support they need. Try a prebuilt NPS survey for middle school students.

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-up questions are where the gold is. Many students give short or ambiguous responses at first. Automated follow-ups (see our page on AI-powered follow-ups) keep the conversation going—digging for reasons, clarifications, or examples in an organic, human way. This is especially important because 43% of secondary students now believe there’s no need to finish a whole book or article, revealing a fragmented relationship with reading. [2]

• Middle school student: “I only read when I have to.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you share what makes required reading less enjoyable for you, or if there’s anything that could change your mind about reading for fun?”

How many follow-ups to ask? In most cases, 2-3 follow-ups per open-ended answer strike the right balance. You get the full story without overwhelming the student. Specific lets you decide how deep to go—and it skips ahead if you’ve collected enough.

This makes it a conversational survey. Instead of a cold form, the survey feels like a real dialogue, which relaxes students and boosts participation.

Easy analysis with AI survey insights: Even with all these open-ended answers, AI-powered tools such as Specific’s survey response analysis make it simple to digest, summarize, and explore themes across responses. You can even chat with the data to distill findings further.

These automatic, real-time follow-up questions are a game changer. If you haven’t yet, generate a conversational survey yourself and see how dynamic and insightful your feedback collection can become.

How to prompt ChatGPT (or other GPTs) to create great questions for reading habits surveys

AI is only as good as the instructions you give. Here are prompt templates that work well for AI survey generation:

Start simple, test output:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for middle school student survey about reading habits.

But for better results, provide more context—describe who you are, why you want the survey, any challenges your students face, and what kind of insights you hope to collect.

I’m a school librarian exploring why students read less outside class. This survey is for middle school students. Our goal: discover motivations, obstacles, and what might encourage more reading for pleasure. Suggest 10 open-ended questions.

To organize results, try this:

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

Then if you see, for example, “Motivation,” “Barriers,” and “Book Preferences” as key themes, focus further:

Generate 10 questions for the “Motivation” and “Barriers” categories.

You can keep iterating and refining—AI shines when it gets clear guidance up front.

What is a conversational survey?

A conversational survey is one where questions and responses flow like natural dialogue. The AI adapts its language, asks personalized follow-ups, and makes the experience feel more like a chat than a test. This matters: students, especially those less engaged, are more comfortable with chat-style interactions. It helps gather clearer, more honest responses about topics like reading habits.

Why is this different from a manual survey?

Why use AI for middle school student surveys? AI survey makers like Specific are loaded with expertise from thousands of surveys, meaning you’re poised to ask the right questions, analyze results fast, and keep students engaged. With 56.57% of higher secondary students spending less than an hour daily reading, and only 39.47% reporting daily reading habits, we need tools that truly connect with students and uncover root causes. [3]

Check out our guide on how to create a survey for middle school reading habits for more step-by-step tips. We’ve designed Specific’s conversational surveys so feedback collection feels smooth for everyone—both for survey creators and for your student audience.

See this reading habits survey example now

Create stronger surveys in less time, uncover what drives middle school students’ reading, and turn feedback into actionable insights with AI-powered conversation.