Demographic survey questions your community will answer

Updated 2026-10-30

A grant report asks who you serve, and the answer usually lives in someone's memory. I would rather ask people once, kindly, and keep the totals. This survey covers role, age, background and home life. Everyone can skip a question or say prefer not to say.

The three groups of questions

About who they are: role, age range and gender. These split your results into groups you can report on.

About their background: cultural background, languages at home and where they live. Funders and school boards often ask for these.

About their situation: household size, education and anything that would help them take part. These show where support may be needed.

Who fills it and who reads it

Students, parents, staff and volunteers fill it from one shared link. Only you read the answers, as JSON or CSV. The form has no name or email question, so you collect group totals, not a list of people. Browse forms for schools and forms for nonprofits for more.

A visitor's AI might ask: "Which group are you in?" Then "What is your age range?" Then "Which languages do you speak at home?" It shows every answer and sends only after a yes. Any answer can be prefer not to say. Read about agent-fillable forms.

A tip before you share it

Ask only what you will report. Each extra question is something you must protect. Pair it with a volunteer application form when you also recruit helpers, and a scholarship application when you want to compare who applies with who answered here.

Questions

Do people have to answer every demographic question?

No. Only the group question and the totals tick box are required. Every other question can be skipped, and the choice lists include Prefer not to say, which keeps the survey respectful.

How do I turn the answers into group totals?

Download the CSV and count each column with a spreadsheet pivot table. Cross participant_role with age_range to see who answered. Report totals only, never single rows.

Can I change the background and education lists?

Yes. Edit the options so they match the categories your funder, board or country uses. Keep a Prefer not to say option in every list.

Try the form

Live demo ยท nothing is saved

A few questions about you

Answer only what you are comfortable sharing. Most questions include Prefer not to say, and you can skip any question that is not marked required.

Which group are you in? (required)
Your age range
How do you describe your gender?
Which backgrounds describe you?

Pick all that apply. The organiser can edit this list to match the groups it reports on.

Where do you live?
Highest level of education you have completed

For example access, language, childcare or timing.

I understand my answers are reported as group totals (required)
Use this templateAll templates

Or paste the JSON

Give this to your AI. It needs the AI Form API MCP server or an API key. It makes the form and sends you the link.

text
Create this form with the AI Form API create_form tool (or POST https://aiformapi.com/v1/forms with my API key). Then reply with the public_url.

{
  "title": "A few questions about you",
  "description": "Answer only what you are comfortable sharing. Most questions include Prefer not to say, and you can skip any question that is not marked required.",
  "fields": [
    {
      "id": "participant_role",
      "label": "Which group are you in?",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "required": true,
      "options": [
        "Student",
        "Parent or guardian",
        "Staff member",
        "Volunteer",
        "Community member",
        "Other"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "age_range",
      "label": "Your age range",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "options": [
        "Under 18",
        "18 to 24",
        "25 to 34",
        "35 to 44",
        "45 to 54",
        "55 to 64",
        "65 or older",
        "Prefer not to say"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "gender_description",
      "label": "How do you describe your gender?",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "options": [
        "Woman",
        "Man",
        "Non-binary",
        "I describe it another way",
        "Prefer not to say"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "cultural_background",
      "label": "Which backgrounds describe you?",
      "type": "multi_choice",
      "help": "Pick all that apply. The organiser can edit this list to match the groups it reports on.",
      "options": [
        "Asian",
        "Black or African descent",
        "Hispanic or Latino",
        "Indigenous or First Nations",
        "Middle Eastern or North African",
        "Pacific Islander",
        "White",
        "Another background",
        "Prefer not to say"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "languages_at_home",
      "label": "Languages spoken at home",
      "type": "short_text",
      "max_length": 200
    },
    {
      "id": "household_size",
      "label": "How many people live in your household?",
      "type": "number",
      "min": 1,
      "max": 20
    },
    {
      "id": "area_type",
      "label": "Where do you live?",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "options": [
        "City",
        "Suburb",
        "Small town",
        "Rural area",
        "Prefer not to say"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "education_completed",
      "label": "Highest level of education you have completed",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "options": [
        "Primary school",
        "Secondary school",
        "Trade or technical training",
        "Bachelor's degree",
        "Postgraduate degree",
        "Prefer not to say"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "participation_needs",
      "label": "Anything that would help you take part",
      "type": "long_text",
      "help": "For example access, language, childcare or timing.",
      "max_length": 600
    },
    {
      "id": "group_totals_ok",
      "label": "I understand my answers are reported as group totals",
      "type": "checkbox",
      "required": true
    }
  ]
}

Or call the API

bash
curl -X POST https://aiformapi.com/v1/forms \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AIFORMAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title":"A few questions about you","description":"Answer only what you are comfortable sharing. Most questions include Prefer not to say, and you can skip any question that is not marked required.","fields":[{"id":"participant_role","label":"Which group are you in?","type":"single_choice","required":true,"options":["Student","Parent or guardian","Staff member","Volunteer","Community member","Other"]},{"id":"age_range","label":"Your age range","type":"single_choice","options":["Under 18","18 to 24","25 to 34","35 to 44","45 to 54","55 to 64","65 or older","Prefer not to say"]},{"id":"gender_description","label":"How do you describe your gender?","type":"single_choice","options":["Woman","Man","Non-binary","I describe it another way","Prefer not to say"]},{"id":"cultural_background","label":"Which backgrounds describe you?","type":"multi_choice","help":"Pick all that apply. The organiser can edit this list to match the groups it reports on.","options":["Asian","Black or African descent","Hispanic or Latino","Indigenous or First Nations","Middle Eastern or North African","Pacific Islander","White","Another background","Prefer not to say"]},{"id":"languages_at_home","label":"Languages spoken at home","type":"short_text","max_length":200},{"id":"household_size","label":"How many people live in your household?","type":"number","min":1,"max":20},{"id":"area_type","label":"Where do you live?","type":"single_choice","options":["City","Suburb","Small town","Rural area","Prefer not to say"]},{"id":"education_completed","label":"Highest level of education you have completed","type":"single_choice","options":["Primary school","Secondary school","Trade or technical training","Bachelor'\''s degree","Postgraduate degree","Prefer not to say"]},{"id":"participation_needs","label":"Anything that would help you take part","type":"long_text","help":"For example access, language, childcare or timing.","max_length":600},{"id":"group_totals_ok","label":"I understand my answers are reported as group totals","type":"checkbox","required":true}]}'

JSON definition

json
{
  "title": "A few questions about you",
  "description": "Answer only what you are comfortable sharing. Most questions include Prefer not to say, and you can skip any question that is not marked required.",
  "fields": [
    {
      "id": "participant_role",
      "label": "Which group are you in?",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "required": true,
      "options": [
        "Student",
        "Parent or guardian",
        "Staff member",
        "Volunteer",
        "Community member",
        "Other"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "age_range",
      "label": "Your age range",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "options": [
        "Under 18",
        "18 to 24",
        "25 to 34",
        "35 to 44",
        "45 to 54",
        "55 to 64",
        "65 or older",
        "Prefer not to say"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "gender_description",
      "label": "How do you describe your gender?",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "options": [
        "Woman",
        "Man",
        "Non-binary",
        "I describe it another way",
        "Prefer not to say"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "cultural_background",
      "label": "Which backgrounds describe you?",
      "type": "multi_choice",
      "help": "Pick all that apply. The organiser can edit this list to match the groups it reports on.",
      "options": [
        "Asian",
        "Black or African descent",
        "Hispanic or Latino",
        "Indigenous or First Nations",
        "Middle Eastern or North African",
        "Pacific Islander",
        "White",
        "Another background",
        "Prefer not to say"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "languages_at_home",
      "label": "Languages spoken at home",
      "type": "short_text",
      "max_length": 200
    },
    {
      "id": "household_size",
      "label": "How many people live in your household?",
      "type": "number",
      "min": 1,
      "max": 20
    },
    {
      "id": "area_type",
      "label": "Where do you live?",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "options": [
        "City",
        "Suburb",
        "Small town",
        "Rural area",
        "Prefer not to say"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "education_completed",
      "label": "Highest level of education you have completed",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "options": [
        "Primary school",
        "Secondary school",
        "Trade or technical training",
        "Bachelor's degree",
        "Postgraduate degree",
        "Prefer not to say"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "participation_needs",
      "label": "Anything that would help you take part",
      "type": "long_text",
      "help": "For example access, language, childcare or timing.",
      "max_length": 600
    },
    {
      "id": "group_totals_ok",
      "label": "I understand my answers are reported as group totals",
      "type": "checkbox",
      "required": true
    }
  ]
}