Interviews: Live Video Conversations

Overview

Interview sessions in Pulse Labs facilitate deep, meaningful conversations between researchers and participants through a sophisticated video conferencing platform built specifically for user research. The interview system includes features tailored for research scenarios: multiple camera support, stage management, collaborative note-taking, and integrated recording capabilities.

The interview system operates on the concept of interview series rather than individual sessions. When you create an interview, you establish a framework that can support multiple sessions with different participants, all sharing the same research protocol and configuration. This approach streamlines research workflows when you need to conduct similar interviews with multiple participants over time.

Understanding Interview Series vs Individual Sessions

The Series Concept

An interview series serves as a container for multiple related interview sessions. When you set up an interview series, you define the script, technical configuration, and overall approach that will be consistent across all sessions within that series.

This design is particularly powerful for studies where you need to interview multiple participants about the same topics. Rather than recreating the same setup repeatedly, you establish the series once and then create individual sessions as needed. Each session inherits the series configuration while maintaining its own participant list, recording, and session-specific data.

Session Management Within Series

Individual sessions within a series operate independently for scheduling and participant management while sharing the research framework. Each session can have different participants, be scheduled at different times, and produce separate recordings, but they all follow the same interview script and use the same technical configuration.

Sessions progress through distinct states that help you track research progress. New sessions start in a "Pending" state, move to "In Progress" when actively running, and reach "Completed" status when recording is finished. This state management helps you organize ongoing research and ensures no sessions are overlooked.

Setting Up Your Interview Series

Creating the Research Framework

When you begin creating an interview series, you'll start by establishing the research script that will guide your conversations. The script editor supports rich text formatting, allowing you to create structured interview guides with headings, bullet points, numbered lists, and even tables to organize your questions and topics.

The script serves as your reference during sessions and can be collaboratively edited by team members. During live sessions, the script remains available in a sidebar panel, ensuring you can stay on track with your research objectives while maintaining natural conversation flow with participants.

Technical Configuration

The interview system supports sophisticated technical setups to accommodate different research environments. For researchers working in professional research labs, the system can manage multiple camera inputs, allowing you to capture different angles or focus on specific aspects of the participant experience.

Audio configuration is equally flexible, supporting various microphone and speaker setups. The system includes built-in audio testing to ensure optimal quality before sessions begin. This upfront technical validation prevents disruptions during actual interviews and ensures consistent recording quality across sessions.

Collaborative Features Setup

Interview sessions support multiple researchers and observers, each with different roles and permissions. When setting up your series, you can define who should have access and what level of participation they should have. Researchers can actively participate in interviews, manage technical aspects, and control recording. Observers can watch and take notes without interfering with the participant experience.

The collaborative workspace includes private communication channels that allow research team members to coordinate without participants seeing their discussions. This behind-the-scenes collaboration is essential for complex research scenarios where multiple team members need to coordinate during live sessions.

Managing Individual Sessions

Session Creation and Scheduling

Within your interview series, you can create individual sessions as needed. Each session can be named and configured independently, allowing you to organize interviews by participant characteristics, research phases, or any other relevant criteria. The system supports both one-off sessions and bulk session creation when you need to schedule multiple interviews efficiently.

Session scheduling integrates with participant management, allowing you to assign specific participants to sessions and send them appropriate joining information. The system generates unique participant links for each session, ensuring security and proper access control.

Participant Assignment and Communication

The participant assignment process connects your interview sessions with your project's participant pool. You can select participants manually, use filtering criteria to identify appropriate candidates, or upload participant lists directly. The system maintains participant information and communication preferences throughout this process.

Participant communication includes automated invitation systems and reminder capabilities. Participants receive clear joining instructions, technical requirements, and any preparation materials needed for successful participation. The system also provides backup communication methods for troubleshooting access issues.

The Interview Studio Experience

Pre-Session Setup

Before joining an interview session, researchers go through a comprehensive studio setup process that ensures optimal technical quality. This setup wizard guides you through camera selection, audio configuration, and additional technical options that might be needed for your specific research scenario.

The camera setup process allows you to select from available cameras and configure settings like video mirroring and background blur. For researchers who need to capture multiple perspectives, you can add and name additional video sources, creating a multi-camera setup that provides comprehensive documentation of the research session.

Audio configuration includes microphone and speaker selection, plus a built-in audio test system. This testing process plays audio and records a sample, then plays it back to verify quality. This validation step is crucial for ensuring participants can hear you clearly and that their responses are captured properly.

Studio Settings and Technical Controls

The studio settings modal provides ongoing access to technical configurations throughout your session. You can adjust camera and audio settings, add or remove video sources, and modify other technical parameters without disrupting the session flow.

For research environments with specialized equipment, the system supports multiple video sources per researcher. This capability is particularly valuable in usability labs where you might want to capture both participant reactions and their interactions with products or interfaces simultaneously.

Stage Management System

The interview platform uses a sophisticated stage management system that controls who appears prominently during the session. Participants can be in three states: on stage (prominently displayed), backstage (visible but not featured), or invited (not yet joined or waiting to be brought into the session).

This stage management approach gives researchers fine-grained control over the interview experience. You can bring participants onto the stage when you're ready to begin, manage multiple participants efficiently, and control focus throughout the session. When participants first join, they appear backstage, allowing you to prepare them before bringing them into the main conversation area.

The stage management interface is intuitive, with hover-based controls for moving participants between states. You can add participants to the stage with a single click, remove them when needed, or use advanced options for more complex scenarios.

During the Interview Session

Managing Participants and Flow

Active session management involves coordinating participant experience while maintaining research objectives. The system provides tools for managing participant audio (muting/unmuting), controlling their stage presence, and facilitating smooth conversation flow.

The participant management interface shows connection status, audio levels, and other technical indicators that help you ensure all participants are having a good experience. If participants are having technical difficulties, you can troubleshoot without disrupting other participants or the overall session flow.

Communication and Collaboration Tools

The interview platform includes multiple communication channels that support different aspects of research collaboration. The main chat system allows communication with all participants, while private researcher channels enable team coordination without participant visibility.

Chat functionality extends beyond simple text messages to include file sharing and administrative communications. These tools are particularly valuable for complex research scenarios where you need to share materials with participants or coordinate with team members during the session.

Note-Taking and Documentation

Integrated note-taking tools allow researchers to capture observations and insights during live sessions. Notes are automatically timestamped and associated with specific moments in the session, creating a comprehensive record that's linked to the video recording.

The note-taking system supports collaborative input from multiple team members, with clear attribution of who contributed which observations. This collaborative approach ensures comprehensive documentation while allowing team members to focus on different aspects of the participant experience.

Script Management During Sessions

The interview script remains accessible throughout the session via a sidebar panel that can be opened and closed as needed. The script display is optimized for quick reference while maintaining conversation flow, ensuring you can stay organized without appearing overly scripted to participants.

Script editing is supported during live sessions, but it's locked to prevent conflicts when multiple team members are accessing it. This ensures that script modifications don't interfere with the session flow while still allowing necessary adjustments based on how the conversation develops.

Recording and Session Completion

Recording Management

Recording in interview sessions is both automatic and manual. The system requires recording to mark a session as complete, ensuring that research data is properly captured. Recording controls are easily accessible during sessions, and all participants are clearly notified when recording begins.

The recording system captures all video feeds, audio channels, and chat communications, creating a comprehensive record of the session. Multiple video sources are maintained separately but can also be viewed as a combined feed, providing flexibility for different analysis needs.

Session Completion Process

Sessions are considered complete when recording has been successfully captured. This requirement ensures that research data is preserved and prevents accidental loss of valuable research insights. The completion process is straightforward but includes verification steps to ensure recording quality.

When ending a session, researchers have options for how to close the room. You can leave the session while allowing others to continue, or close the entire room if you're the primary researcher. This flexibility accommodates different research scenarios and team structures.

Post-Session Management

After session completion, the interview data becomes available for review and analysis. Session recordings can be played back immediately, and the system provides metadata including session duration, participant information, and technical quality indicators.

The post-session interface includes options for excluding sessions from analysis if technical issues or other problems affected data quality. This quality control mechanism ensures that only valid research data contributes to your overall findings.

Advanced Session Features

Multi-Session Management

When working with interview series that include multiple sessions, the management interface provides comprehensive overview and control capabilities. You can view all sessions within a series, track completion status, and manage participant assignments across multiple related interviews.

Bulk operations are supported for common tasks like downloading recordings, inviting collaborators, or updating session status. These efficiency features are particularly valuable for larger research studies with many individual sessions.

Integration with Project Workflow

Interview sessions integrate seamlessly with other project activities and participant management systems. Session completion can trigger other research activities, and participant data flows between different research methods within the same project.

The integration approach ensures that interview data contributes to comprehensive participant profiles and that research workflows can build on insights gathered through different methods.

Quality Control and Review

The session management system includes quality control features that help ensure research standards are maintained. Sessions can be marked as excluded if they don't meet quality standards, and the system tracks these decisions for research integrity purposes.

Review workflows allow team members to evaluate session quality, extract key insights, and ensure that research objectives were met. This systematic approach to quality control supports reliable research outcomes and helps identify areas for process improvement.

Troubleshooting and Best Practices

Technical Issues Resolution

Common technical issues during interview sessions include audio problems, video quality issues, and connection difficulties. The system provides diagnostic information and suggested solutions for most common problems, allowing researchers to resolve issues quickly without disrupting the research flow.

For more complex technical scenarios, the system maintains detailed logs that can help support teams diagnose and resolve problems. This backend support ensures that technical issues don't compromise research quality or participant experience.

Optimizing Session Quality

Session quality depends on both technical configuration and research methodology. Best practices include testing all equipment before sessions, providing clear instructions to participants, and having backup plans for common technical difficulties.

The system supports various quality optimization features, including automatic audio level adjustment, network quality monitoring, and degraded mode operation when connections are limited. These features help maintain session quality even in challenging technical environments.

Participant Experience Considerations

Successful interview sessions balance research objectives with participant comfort and engagement. The platform includes features designed to minimize technical barriers for participants while providing researchers with the tools they need for comprehensive data collection.

Participant experience optimization includes clear joining instructions, minimal technical requirements, and intuitive interface design. These elements help ensure that technical aspects don't interfere with the natural conversation flow that's essential for high-quality qualitative research.

The interview system in Pulse Labs provides a comprehensive platform for conducting professional research interviews while maintaining the flexibility and depth needed for meaningful qualitative research. From series setup through individual session management and post-session analysis, every aspect is designed to support high-quality research outcomes while providing an excellent experience for both researchers and participants.