How do you run online focus groups and interviews that are genuinely worth doing live? This free, one-hour course module shows you how to decide when research should happen in real time, choose between a human and an AI moderator, pick an interview or a group, select the right technology, and use AI to make sense of your sessions afterwards.

Module 2 of the six-part Digital Qual Masterclass Series is taught by Laura Pulito, Vice President of Research at Recollective, and is free to watch on demand thanks to the support of Recollective. It’s for anyone who runs or commissions live video research and wants to get more from it than a moderator, some participants and a row of webcams.

What you’ll learn

By the end of this module, you’ll be able to:

Who this course is for

• Qualitative and market researchers running online focus groups and in-depth interviews
• Client-side insights teams commissioning or observing live video research
• UX, product and CX researchers who run customer conversations over video
• Researchers weighing up AI-moderated interviews for the first time
• Students and early-career researchers looking for free qualitative research training

What’s covered in Module 2

How live video research has changed since 2020

In 2020 the challenge was moving in-person interviews and focus groups online. Today the question is how to get more value from them, with AI and human moderation options, interactive stimuli and polls, research-specific tools, easier observation, blended studies and automatic transcripts, summaries and clips.

When to run qualitative research live

A practical test for deciding whether a study needs real-time conversation, and the situations where asynchronous methods, diaries or other approaches will serve the research better.

Human vs AI moderation

When a live human moderator is essential, when an AI moderator makes sense, and why sensitive topics aren’t automatically human territory: some participants open up more to an AI because they don’t feel judged. Includes three ways to blend the two and how to set participant expectations.

A worked example: new product and packaging research

A fictional coffee brand launch shows how asynchronous activities, live mini groups and AI-moderated interviews can each do a different job within one study.

How to run online focus groups and interviews: choosing the right format

When to use an in-depth interview and when to use a group, plus the practical considerations about the people, the conversation and the research environment to plan before choosing your setup.

Choosing technology for live online research

The differences between general meeting tools such as Zoom, Teams and Google Meet, research-specific live platforms, AI-moderated interview platforms, and hosting in one tool while analysing in another, with what a research platform can add before, during and after a session.

Using AI after the live session

How AI can summarise sessions, find quotes and clips, translate conversations and compare interviews or groups, and why clean transcripts and correct speaker names are essential before you trust the output.

Tips for running better live sessions

Pre-session checks, from practice runs and tech checks to buffer time and backroom roles, plus ways to make interaction intentional so the live session is worth being live.

About the instructor

Laura Pulito is Vice President of Research at Recollective. She has more than 20 years’ experience in the research industry on both the client and supplier side, and was a Recollective customer before joining the company. She specialises in digital qualitative methods and helps brands, agencies and researchers design online research projects.

About the Digital Qual Masterclass Series

The Digital Qual Masterclass Series is a free, six-module course on modern online qualitative research, hosted by Insight Platforms and supported by Recollective. It refreshes the 2020 Fundamentals of Online Qualitative Research course for a world of new platforms, blended methods and AI. The content is platform-agnostic and applies regardless of the tools you use.

1. Planning & Designing Modern Qualitative Research
2. Live Video Interviews & Groups, including AI-moderated interviews (this module)
3. Smartphone Diaries & In-the-Moment Research
4. Asynchronous Qual & Short-Term Communities
5. Long-Term Insight Communities
6. Qualitative Analysis & Reporting

Frequently asked questions

Is this online focus groups course free? Yes. All six modules of the Digital Qual Masterclass Series are free to watch on demand, supported by Recollective.

Do I need to have watched Module 1 first? No. Each module builds on the same planning framework, but Module 2 works on its own. If you’re new to the series, Module 1 covers the foundations of planning and designing modern qualitative research.

How long is Module 2? About one hour. You can also read the full edited transcript as a downloadable PDF and download three one-page handouts.

When should qualitative research be done live rather than asynchronously? Choose live interviews or focus groups when being together at the same time adds value: building rapport, probing and adapting in real time, following hesitation or contradiction, watching someone demonstrate or react, or hearing how people respond to one another. If participants need time to reflect, the experience happens over days or weeks, or you need to hear from many people, an asynchronous method is usually a better fit.

When should I use an AI moderator instead of a human moderator? Use an AI moderator when the conversation can follow a structured path and you need consistency, speed and scale, for example in concept testing or reactions to messaging. Use a live human moderator when rapport and trust matter, the conversation may need to change direction, cultural nuance is important or group dynamics need to be managed. The two can also be blended within one study, and participants should always be told in advance if an AI will moderate.

Should I run an in-depth interview or a focus group? Use an interview when the story needs individual depth, the topic is private or sensitive, group influence would be a problem or someone needs to demonstrate a task. Use a group when interaction is part of the learning, you want agreement and disagreement, or participants can build on and prioritise ideas together.

Is the course specific to Recollective’s platform? No. The content covers the broader qualitative research landscape and applies whether you run sessions in Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, a research-specific platform or an AI-moderated interview tool.