Starting out
An empty study offers four paths:
- Generate with AI — draft questions from your study details
- Import Questions — from a research guide or a Deutero XML export
- Add Manually — write them yourself
- Design Interview Flow — build a branching interview instead
Question types
| Type | What the participant does | Config |
|---|---|---|
| Text | Answers in their own words | Min turns, Max turns |
| Scale | Picks a number | Min/Max value (1–10), labels for each end |
| Choices | Picks one option | Option list |
| Multi-select | Picks several | Option list, minimum and maximum selections (0 = no limit) |
| Ranking | Orders items most to least | Item list |
| Card Sort | Sorts cards into groups | Card list, group names (at least two) |
| Slots | Supplies several named values in one answer | Slot names |
| Present Images | Reacts to 1–4 images you supply | Image uploads |
Every type except Text has a Requires follow-up toggle: leave it off and the answer is recorded without the interviewer probing. Text questions instead set Min Turns and Max Turns to bound the conversation.
An Image Upload type, where the participant supplies a photo, exists in the API (expected_image). It needs a model that can read images, so it is unavailable on plans limited to the open-weights tier.
Writing questions by hand
- Add Manually (or Add Question on a study that already has some).
- Enter the Question 1 Text and optional Guidance — private notes telling the interviewer how to probe.
- Choose the Question Type and fill in its config.
- Click Save on the card. Each card saves on its own.
- Save Changes at the bottom stores the order.
Reorder by dragging; delete from the card.
Generating questions with AI
Open Generate Questions with AI, choose how many (3–20), optionally add Additional Instructions, and click Generate Questions. Generation reads your research question, objectives and target population, plus any uploaded research guide.
Importing questions
Import Questions accepts a research guide (PDF, DOCX, TXT…) or a Deutero XML export. Uploading a guide extracts its questions; you review them before they are added.
Checking the interview
- Validate — reviews every question for clarity, leading or biased wording, double-barrelled phrasing, and runs an ethics check. Results open in a Question Validation Results dialog.
- Try Interview — opens the live participant experience at
app.deutero.ai. - Download Interview Guide — a PDF of the whole interview.
- Translate — pick a language and translate the question set. Translations are stored per question.
The header also shows the question count and an estimated interview length (for example "6-10 min", "5 questions").
Known issue (September 2026). Translating a question set from this page is unreliable: some questions fail with "Translation failed: invalid response format", and successful ones can pick up the question-type label in the translated text ("…kit de comida.\n ranking"). Check every translation before going live.
With MCP
list_questions {"study_id": "…"}
create_question {"study_id": "…", "question": "Tell me about the last time you cancelled a subscription.",
"follow_up": true, "min_turns": 2, "max_turns": 6}
create_question {"study_id": "…", "question": "How good was the value for money?", "qtype": "scale",
"scale": {"minScale": 1, "maxScale": 5, "minLabel": "Poor", "maxLabel": "Excellent"}}
create_question {"study_id": "…", "question": "Why did you stop?", "qtype": "choices",
"options": ["Price", "Time", "Quality", "Other"]}
update_question {"study_id": "…", "question_id": "…", "max_turns": 8}
reorder_questions{"study_id": "…", "question_ids": ["…", "…", "…"]}
validate_questions {"study_id": "…"}
qtype can be omitted and inferred from the config you send: scale → scale, options → choices, slots → slots, expected_image → image upload, otherwise text. Pass an empty list to clear options, slots or groups. reorder_questions needs every question id in the desired order.
AI generation and translation have no MCP equivalent; an agent should write the text itself and call create_question.
Best practices
- Order — open with easy, non-sensitive questions; group related ones; leave demographics to characteristic questions.
- One thing per question — "How was delivery and pricing?" produces answers you cannot code.
- Bound the conversation — max turns keeps an enthusiastic interviewer from tripling the length, and the length drives the credit cost.
- Use guidance — tell the interviewer what a good answer contains and when to probe.
- Test before recruiting — Try Interview, or simulate with a persona.
Last updated: September 2026