Add questions to an AI moderated study

AI moderated studies combine open-ended and closed-ended questions to conduct dynamic, engaging sessions for each participant. For added control, you can set how many follow-up questions the moderator should ask, as well as define any guidance on what exactly those follow-ups should be designed to discover.

AI moderated studies always have study questions, and they also include screener questions if you're auto-recruiting participants.

Tip: For the full list of available question types, see Question types in AI moderated studies.

Screener questions (auto-recruit only)

When auto-recruiting, screener questions use knockout logic to qualify or disqualify applicants before they interact with the AI moderator. Only Multiple choice questions are supported in the screener.

Note: In addition to screener questions, you'll want to include targeting attributes to narrow your audience further. For more information, see Targeting attributes.

To add a screener question:

Navigate to the Screener tab of your study.

Click + Add under Screener questions in the left sidebar.

Select Multiple choice to add a new multiple choice question.

Enter a Prompt and your answer Choices.

Configure knockout logic using the drop-down beside each choice. For more information, see Knockout questions.

Tip: You can also select Add from question bank to add a saved question from your question bank. For more information, see Question banks.

Click Done.

Now, your screener question is added to your study. Repeat the steps above to add more screener questions (up to 10 total) or move on to adding your study questions.

Study questions

Study questions are the heart of your AI moderated study. This is where the AI moderator takes over, leading a conversation based on your objectives, prompts, and follow-up guidance. When auto-recruiting, only applicants who qualify on your screener questions advance to your study questions.

Tip: Once you've added your study questions and configured their settings, you can have Dscout AI give everything a quick pass and offer suggestions on what could lead to a more successful study. For more information, see Review your study.

To add study questions to your AI moderated study:

Navigate to the AI moderator tab of your study.

Click + Add in the center of the builder or under Questions in the left sidebar.

Select a question type and complete the provided fields.

Tip: For more information on individual question settings, search for its question type on the Dscout help center.

Click Done.

AI moderated studies support a maximum of 5 Task questions and 30 questions total (excluding Multiple choice and Scale questions).

Your study's estimated length is displayed at the top of the builder and updates as you add questions. We recommend keeping studies to 30 minutes or less to avoid participant fatigue.

Follow-up questions

You're in control of how dynamic or rigid you want the AI moderator to be when interacting with your participants. For example, maybe you want the AI moderator to dig a little deeper on certain questions but not on others. You can customize the number of follow-up questions the AI moderator asks on a question-by-question basis.

To enable follow-ups on a study question, set the Follow-up questions toggle in the right sidebar to ON, then choose from the following options:

Only if response is short: Up to one follow-up, but none if the participant's initial response is already thorough.
1 follow-up: One follow-up, regardless of how thorough the initial response is.
2–3 follow-ups: At least two follow-ups (no more than three total), regardless of how thorough the initial response is.

You can also guide the kinds of follow-ups the moderator asks. For example, focusing on competitors a participant mentions, or asking the reasoning behind a closed-ended selection. Enter that in the Follow-up guidance (optional) field: