Describe your audience and purpose. Makeform creates a personal values survey with shortlisting, trade-offs, ranking, and reflection for coaching, employee development, classrooms, or workshops.
Send personal values survey responses to Slack, Google Sheets, and Zapier.
Sample prompts for the builder
Choose a prompt, adapt it, or send it into the builder. Each question list is an example structure, not a live AI result.
Audience
New coaching clients clarifying priorities
Format
Guided survey with shortlist and ranking
Prompt size
286 chars
Example survey structure
Guided survey with shortlist and ranking
Which 10 values feel most important now?
Choose between each pair of finalists
Rank your five core values
When did a decision feel aligned?
One action that would honor your top value
Suggested routing tags
Individual reflection
Team discussion
Workshop follow-up
Use trade-offs before ranking. A short finalist list reveals more than rating every value important.
Step 1
Explore
scan clear, neutral value definitions
Step 2
Narrow
choose and compare meaningful finalists
Step 3
Rank
put core values in a deliberate order
Step 4
Apply
connect priorities to choices and actions
Why structured reflection works
A useful survey creates trade-offs, captures meaning, and ends with action.
Group values into themes and limit selections.
Forced-choice pairs and rankings clarify close calls between equally appealing values.
Open questions connect labels to real decisions, tensions, and habits.
Adapt it to the setting
Adjust language, privacy, examples, and follow-up by audience.
Use the ranking to explore where daily choices support or compete with stated priorities.
Discuss role fit and motivation without turning values into a performance score.
Use familiar scenarios, simple definitions, and a small student-chosen action.
Collect private pre-work and discuss aggregate themes while preserving differences.
Build the survey
Specify who responds, why they are reflecting, the desired length, and what follows submission.
Name the setting, age range, tone, and approximate completion time.
Use neutral definitions, remove duplicates, and place selection before ranking and reflection.
Preview long lists and ranking interactions, then clarify labels and instructions.
Share the link and explain whether answers stay private, get discussed, or are summarized.
Choose the right method
Selection finds candidates, rating measures each alone, and ranking establishes priority.
Field guide
Move from orientation to action without fixed labels.
Orientation
Explain the purpose, response handling, and whether results are private or discussed. Note that priorities can change with context.
Value bank
Use concise labels and neutral definitions. Remove near-duplicates and balance individual, relational, and contribution values.
Shortlisting
Set a selection maximum to create a manageable finalist set for comparison.
Trade-offs
Use realistic pairwise choices or scenarios without implying either value is morally better.
Ranking & interpretation
Rank only finalists and repeat their definitions. Frame results as reflection, not a diagnosis or permanent profile.
Reflection & action
Ask for evidence, tension, and a next step that can be revisited later.
Related tools
Continue with a personality quiz, career discussion, team pulse, or group vote.
Create defined outcome groups instead of an individual values ranking.
Open toolExplore growth goals, role interests, development needs, and career priorities.
Open toolMeasure motivation, support, communication, and daily work experience.
Open toolFAQ
Answers for coaches, people teams, educators, and facilitators.
A personal values survey helps someone identify important principles, narrow a broad list, and rank core priorities. Examples and next steps turn the ranking into material for coaching, planning, or discussion.
Start with 20 to 30 distinct values, shortlist eight to 10, then rank three to five finalists. A staged process is easier than ranking a long list at once.
Ratings show how well life or work supports each value. Rankings establish relative priority. Selection, trade-offs, and a final rank usually create the clearest sequence.
Yes. Explain the purpose, avoid framing values as a performance test, and say who sees individual responses. For groups, discuss aggregate themes instead of exposing every ranking.
Use familiar words, short definitions, and scenarios from school, friendships, family, and goals. Let students explain choices, and frame results as reflection rather than a fixed identity or character grade.
You can build selection and ranking questions with a results summary. For earlier selections carried into pairwise comparisons or an automatic personalized summary, describe the behavior clearly and test the complete path before sharing.
Yes. Makeform is unlimited free for generating, editing, publishing, and collecting responses. The paid tier removes the Makeform badge.
Return the ranking with the same definitions, then ask about a decision, value conflict, and next action. Use results to ask questions, not explain the whole person.
Make values easier to name and use.
