Research goals define what you want to learn from your participants. The AI researcher uses these goals to guide the conversation, asking relevant questions and probing deeper based on participant responses.

What are research goals?

Research goals are the topics and questions you want to explore during the interview. Unlike a traditional script with fixed questions, research goals give the AI researcher flexibility to have natural conversations while ensuring key areas are covered.

Each research goal should describe what you're trying to understand or learn. The AI researcher will:

Ask questions related to the goal
Follow up on interesting or unclear responses
Probe deeper when participants mention relevant experiences
Adapt the conversation based on what participants share

Writing your research goals

Write research goals that describe what you want to understand, not the specific questions to ask. The AI researcher will generate appropriate questions based on your goals and the conversation context.

Research goal

Describe what you're trying to understand or learn from your audience in a few sentences. Focus on the insight you're seeking rather than how to ask for it.

Example research goals:

"Understand what features would drive someone to switch banks if rates remained the same"
"Explore how participants currently discover new products and what influences their purchase decisions"
"Identify pain points in the onboarding process and what would have made it easier"

Conversation depth

Set how detailed the conversation should be for each goal and will impact the overall time the AI moderator commits to achieve the goal and continue to dig deeper with the participant.

Shallow: Brief exploration with minimal follow-up questions. Use for simple topics or when you need quick validation.
Moderate: Balanced depth with some follow-up probing. Use for most research goals where you want meaningful insights without extensive exploration.
Deep: Thorough exploration with extensive follow-up questions. Use for complex topics or core research questions where you need rich, detailed responses.

Ordering your research goals

Drag and drop research goals to arrange them in your preferred order. The AI researcher will generally progress through goals from top to bottom, though it may adapt the flow based on natural conversation. As each goal is achieved the AI moderator will maintain an understanding of what has been discussed and achieved to avoid repetition.

Best practices

Be specific about what you want to learn

Vague goals like "understand the user experience" will produce vague insights. Instead, focus on specific aspects: "understand what frustrates users when searching for flights and how they work around these issues."

Focus on one topic per goal

Break complex research questions into separate goals. This helps the AI researcher explore each area thoroughly and makes your results easier to analyse.

Write goals, not questions

Describe the insight you're seeking rather than scripting exact questions. The AI researcher will ask questions naturally based on your goals and the conversation flow.

Use participant friendly language

While goals are for the AI researcher, writing in clear language helps generate better questions. Avoid jargon or internal terminology participants won't understand.