An AI Interviewer study has two separate question sets, and they do different jobs. The Screener decides who qualifies to take part. The interview is what the AI Moderator asks the Participants who get in. You build both in Project Details: open Project Details, badged AI interview, and select Edit project.
The Screener: who gets in
Screener questions are answered by applicants before any interview takes place. Use them to confirm someone is the right fit, so only qualified applicants can go forward. A Participant who does not qualify never reaches the interview.
How qualified Participants reach the interview
Qualifying does not place a Participant into the interview on its own. You control that with the Auto invite setting, which appears on the Launch page under Study settings after you select Proceed to Launch. It is off by default.
Auto invite off. You hand pick matching Participants and invite them to the interview yourself. Best when you want a final look before anyone is admitted.
Auto invite on. Invitations are sent automatically to Participants who match, with no action from you. Best when you want to fill the study quickly.
The interview: what the AI asks
The interview is the recorded conversation the AI Moderator runs with each invited Participant. Group your questions into sections, and the AI follows up naturally within each one.
For each question, you decide how hard the AI probes:
Follow ups. Choose how many follow up questions the AI asks, for example 2 to 3 follow ups.
Guidelines for follow ups. Write a short note telling the AI what to explore, for example to ask how a Participant's thinking developed and what outcomes they care about. The AI uses this to steer its follow ups.
This is what turns one set of questions into a real conversation that adapts to each Participant.
Welcome and closing messages
These two messages open and close the interview. They are the only moments a Participant hears from you rather than the AI, so use them to set the tone and leave a good final impression.
Welcome message. Shown before the interview begins. Use it to greet the Participant, say what the study is about in a sentence, set expectations for how long it will take and that the session is recorded, and reassure them there are no right or wrong answers. A warm, plain welcome helps people relax and speak openly, which gives you better answers.
Example: Thanks for joining. We would love to hear about how you use coding tools in your day to day work. This will take about 30 minutes and is recorded so the team can review it. There are no right or wrong answers, we just want your honest experience.
Closing message. Shown on the completion screen once the interview ends. Use it to thank the Participant, confirm their responses were received, and let them know their submission will be reviewed. A clear close reassures people their time was well spent.
Example: Thank you for sharing your time and your thoughts. Your responses have been recorded and will be reviewed by the team. We appreciate you taking part.
How to reach Respondent Support:
1. Start a chat with our Support Team directly from the chat support "bubble" in the bottom right hand corner of your screen (when logged into the Respondent platform). From there, our AI auto-help agent will immediately begin assisting you!
2. Our Support queues are monitored by real humans Monday through Friday, from 11:30 AM Eastern US until 7:30 PM Eastern US, excluding US federal holidays. Please allow more time for our assistance on Monday's and following US federal holidays, as we will be working to get caught up across all pending requests. There is no need to duplicate your outreach or send multiple follow ups, we will be with you as soon as we can!
3. In the event our AI auto-help agent is unable to resolve your issue, or answer your question, simply ask to speak to a human or select the "Talk to a Human" option at anytime and your thread will be escalated for a team member to review.
4. In the event the chat service is down or otherwise unresponsive, please email support@respondent.io as a backup option to reach our team. In order to keep queues organized and our follow up as efficient as possible, please only reach out via one method (either in-app Support Chat or email). Thank you!
We look forward to helping you! Thanks for being the best part of Respondent!