Unstructured Interviews: Configuration and Best Practices

An Unstructured Interview on Qualz.ai gives the AI moderator maximum flexibility to follow the participant's lead. Instead of a list of specific questions, you provide high-level topics — each with an opening prompt, exploration guidance, and optional probing guidelines. The AI starts with your opening prompts and lets the conversation unfold naturally, while ensuring all key areas are covered.

What Makes an Unstructured Interview Different?

In unstructured mode, the AI moderator acts as a curious, adaptive conversationalist:

Topics instead of questions — Your guide consists of high-level themes, not scripted questions
Opening prompts — Each topic has a broad opening prompt that starts the conversation (e.g., "Tell me about your experience with...")
Exploration guidance — Each topic has a list of key areas the AI should cover within that theme
Participant-led exploration — The AI follows the participant's lead, exploring their thoughts deeply before moving to the next topic
Deep follow-up — The AI can ask multiple follow-up questions to explore interesting threads
Flexible order — Topics are explored in whatever order feels most natural based on the conversation flow
Per-topic stimulus — Assign stimulus images to individual topics for visual research

This makes unstructured interviews ideal for exploratory research where you want to discover themes and insights you haven't anticipated.

How to Set Up an Unstructured Interview

Step 1: Select Unstructured Interview Mode

During the interview creation process, select Unstructured from the Interview Mode cards.

Step 2: Build Your Topic Guide

Option A: Generate with AI Click Generate with AI in the Interview Guide section. The platform generates high-level topics, each with opening prompts and exploration guidance. Topics are calibrated to your duration:

5-10 minutes: 1-3 topics
10-15 minutes: 3-4 topics
15-20 minutes: 4-5 topics
30+ minutes: 5-6 topics (maximum)

Option B: Add Topics Manually Click Add Topic to create items one at a time. Each topic card lets you configure the opening prompt, exploration guidance, and optional probing guidelines.

Option C: Paste an Existing Guide Click Paste existing guide, paste your freeform text, and click Structure pasted guide. The AI converts it into topic cards with opening prompts and exploration points.

Step 3: Configure Each Topic

Expand a topic card to see its full configuration:

Opening Prompt

The broad, open-ended prompt the AI uses to start exploring this topic. For example: "Tell me about the last time you had a really productive collaboration with your remote team."

Exploration Guidance

A list of key areas the AI should cover within this topic. Click + Add point to add guidance items. These act as "make sure you cover this" reminders for the AI — they're not specific questions.

Probing Guidelines (Optional)

Optional follow-up prompts the AI can use if the topic needs deeper exploration. Click + Add to create probing entries.

Step 4: Assign Stimulus (Optional)

Click the image icon on any topic card to assign a stimulus image. The image will be displayed to participants when that topic is being explored.

How the AI Moderator Runs an Unstructured Interview

Opening

The AI introduces itself using your configured AI interviewer name, explains that this will be an open conversation where there are no right or wrong answers, and opens with the first topic's opening prompt.

During the Interview

The AI uses the topics as a flexible checklist rather than a script:

Opens a topic using the configured opening prompt
Follows the participant's lead — if their response touches on a guidance area, the AI explores it
Covers exploration guidance — ensures all key areas are addressed within each topic
Uses probing guidelines when deeper exploration is needed
Naturally transitions to the next topic when the current one has been sufficiently explored
Adapts the order — if the participant naturally brings up a later topic, the AI follows rather than redirecting

Key behaviors:

The AI creates its own questions in the moment, grounded in the topics and guidance you defined
It can rephrase, restructure, and explore freely
It still asks only one question per turn
It ensures all topics are covered by the end of the interview, even if explored in a different order
It displays assigned stimulus images when exploring the associated topic

Closing

After all topics have been explored (or the participant chooses to end), the AI thanks them sincerely and concludes.

When to Use Unstructured Interviews

Ideal scenarios:

Early-stage discovery research — When you don't yet know the right questions to ask
Exploring complex or sensitive topics — Where participants need space to share at their own pace
Understanding lived experiences — Phenomenological research, narrative inquiry, or ethnographic-style interviews
Innovation and ideation research — When you want to discover unanticipated needs and behaviors
Expert interviews — Where the participant's knowledge should drive the conversation direction

Consider a different mode when:

You need to compare responses across participants using identical questions — try Structured
You have specific questions but want some flexibility — try Semi-Structured
You have a specific research methodology like problem discovery or value proposition testing — try Specialized Modes

Best Practices

Write topics, not questions — Your guide should describe areas to explore, not specific questions. "Participant's relationship with technology" is a good topic. "How often do you use your phone?" is a question disguised as a topic.
Write clear opening prompts — The opening prompt sets the tone for each topic. Use broad, inviting language: "Tell me about..." or "Walk me through..."
Use exploration guidance as guideposts — These help the AI know what aspects of a topic to explore without prescribing exact questions. Think of them as "make sure you cover this" reminders.
Keep topics mutually exclusive — Avoid overlap between topics so the AI doesn't circle back to themes already discussed.
Trust the AI's exploration — The AI is designed to dig deep and follow interesting threads. Resist the temptation to over-specify your guide.
Use stimulus for visual research — Assign product concepts, user workflows, or other visuals to topics so they appear at the right moment. See the Stimulus Images in Interviews guide for details.
Plan for 3-5 minutes per topic — Unstructured conversations take time to develop. Don't overload your topic list.
Pilot test extensively — Since the AI creates its own questions, run several pilot tests with AI Participants to ensure the AI covers your topics effectively.

Planning an exploratory research study? Our research experts can help you define topics, set up your study, and recruit the right participants for deep qualitative insights. Book a call →

Related Guides

Understanding Interview Types — Compare all three interview modes
Stimulus Images in Interviews — Add visual materials to your interview
Structured Interviews — For maximum consistency
Semi-Structured Interviews — For balanced flexibility