AI-led conversational interviews

• Write the topics you want covered, and any questions you want asked word for word.
• Anything below the line of dashes is the default way of interviewing. Keep it, edit it, or delete it.
• To split the interview into sections and give the respondent a progress bar, start a line with %%% followed by the first question of that section. Two or more such lines turn the bar on. The %%% must be the first thing on the line.
• By default the interviewer refuses names and other identifying details. If you want them, ask for them here plainly, naming what you want.

Two things are being decided all the way through an interview: coverage, how many of your questions get asked, and depth, how far each one gets explored. You set the balance; the interviewer works out the rest as it goes, reading what the respondent says and how they are answering.

Say what you want in ordinary words, near the top. The default is "Ask every question. Explore each one until it stops giving. If we run short of time, keep the questions and shorten the exploring." Rewrite it if you would rather cover four questions properly than eight thinly, or if you want something short and light with no probing.

You can set a length the same way: "at least fifteen minutes of real questioning", or "keep it under thirty minutes unless they are clearly enjoying it". The interviewer is told how long the session has been running, not counting long pauses.

Marks after a question override the default for that question. They work in any language and the respondent never sees them.

• [+] ask this even if time is short. [++] ask it whatever happens.
• [-] this can go if time is short. [--] drop it freely.
• [>] explore this further than the rest. [>>] explore it hard.
• Combine them: [++>>] is asked whatever happens and explored hard. [!] and [!!] still work, and mean the same as [>] and [>>].

Importance and depth are separate on purpose. A screening question can be compulsory and shallow; a rich topic can be worth half the interview and still be the first thing dropped when time runs out.

Asking for more than the time allows is not an error, and nothing will stop you. The interviewer gives way in a set order: depth on unmarked questions first, then depth on [>], then the [-] and [--] questions go, then [>>] questions drop to one follow-up. Anything marked [++] is always asked. A respondent who wants to stop early always stops early, whatever length you asked for.