Lesson 1429 of 1455
Doing Interview Research with AI Help
Using AI to design questions, transcribe, and surface themes from interviews.
Builders · Research & Analysis · ~4 min read
The big idea
Some of the best teen research projects involve actually talking to humans — local experts, business owners, community members. AI doesn't replace the conversation, but it can help you design good questions, transcribe in seconds, and find themes across multiple interviews that you'd otherwise miss.
Some examples
- Ask AI to critique your draft interview questions for leading or yes/no traps.
- Use Otter, Descript, or built-in phone transcription to capture interviews verbatim.
- Paste anonymized transcripts into AI and ask 'what themes appear in three or more interviews?'
- Always send a thank-you and a one-paragraph summary of what you learned.
Try it!
Identify one expert in something you're researching. Email them today asking for a 15-minute call.
Key terms in this lesson
Practice this safely
Try this with a school, hobby, or family example where the stakes are low. Use the AI output as a draft you can question, not as the final answer.
- 1Ask AI to explain semi-structured interview in plain language, then underline anything that sounds uncertain or too broad.
- 2Give it one detail from "Doing Interview Research with AI Help" and ask for two possible next steps plus one reason each step might be wrong.
- 3Check transcription against a trusted source, teacher, adult, expert, or original document before you use it.
End-of-lesson quiz
Check what stuck
8 questions · Score saves to your progress.
Lesson help
Questions are best handled with a grown-up here.
For this age range, Tendril keeps freeform AI chat paused until parent/guardian consent and child-safe moderation are fully verified. Use the quiz, notes, and related lessons below, or ask a parent, guardian, teacher, or librarian to work through the question with you.
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