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Run an interview

Set up an interview so that Alis talks to the people who hold the answers, one at a time, whenever suits them, and brings what they say into one report on the project. Use it when the context you need is in other people's heads.

Prerequisites

  • Editor or Owner access on the project.
  • A clear idea of what you want to find out and from whom. Alis works only from the plan you give it.

Set up the interview in the console

  1. Open the project and click Interviews, then New interview. (From Interviews in the main navigation, New interview first asks which project the interview belongs to.)
  2. Choose how to start:
    • Write a purpose: under What do you want to learn?, describe what the interview should find out, by typing or dictating. Add images or PDFs participants should open and comment on under Shown to participants, and material only Alis reads under Background for Alis. Instructions for Alis and report focus holds How should Alis run it? and What should the report focus on?; participants see neither.
    • Use your questions: add a question list, learning objectives or a form export, and click Create draft. Alis keeps your questions word for word and drafts the rest.
    • Plan it with an agent: copy a prompt into Alis or the coding agent you use, plan the questions there, and bring the draft or the questions back.
  3. Click Continue. Review and publish shows what participants will see: the title, the introduction, the opening question and how long it should take. Alis drafts them; change any of them.
  4. Under Who can join?, choose:
    • Anyone with the link: whoever you share it with can join.
    • Only people I invite: add email addresses, or a domain such as @example.com for internal research. They confirm their email before joining.
  5. Optionally, set Availability (when it closes) and Keep answers anonymous.
  6. Under Try it before anyone else does, Preview opens the conversation as a participant would have it. Nothing you say is saved.
  7. Click Publish interview. Save draft keeps it unpublished.

Nobody is emailed. Publishing turns the link on; the link reaches people when you send it.

Invite and manage participants

  1. On Interviews, open the interview and click the Share tab.
  2. Under Invite people, pick Invitation (for people you haven't invited yet), Reminder (for people who haven't started) or Link. Edit the message if you like, then copy it, or use Open email draft for the people on your list. Link has Copy link and Copy embed.
  3. To change who may join, open the Setup tab and edit Participants. Who manages this interview adds people who may edit, share and present the interview, or only read its answers.
  4. On the Overview tab, under Participants, Draft reminder writes a nudge for someone who hasn't finished, and Request follow-up asks someone who has finished for more.

Close interview and Delete interview are under More interview actions.

People you add later are not notified automatically either; send them the link.

What a participant experiences

A participant needs no account. Where the interview asks for it, they first confirm their email with a code. They read the welcome, choose a language and click Start talking or Type instead. They can upload files and Share your screen, and click Finish interview when they are done. If they leave partway, they can come back to the link on the same device and carry on.

Read the results

Open the interview on Interviews; the Overview tab holds the results. Report is the synthesis across everyone; Alignment opportunities lists the patterns the answers surfaced, each with the evidence behind it, and offers Answer it myself or Follow up with an interview. Participants shows each person's state; click a participant to open their notes, transcript and any files they shared.

To change what the report emphasises without changing what participants are asked, click Edit focus on the report, edit What should the report focus on? and save; the report is rewritten.