{"site":{"name":"Koji","description":"AI-native customer research platform that helps teams conduct, analyze, and synthesize customer interviews at scale.","url":"https://www.koji.so","contentTypes":["blog","documentation"],"lastUpdated":"2026-05-18T13:32:34.470Z"},"content":[{"type":"documentation","id":"524ceaa5-41f3-40d4-8f47-d1493b856452","slug":"creating-your-first-study","title":"Creating Your First Study","url":"https://www.koji.so/docs/creating-your-first-study","summary":"Step-by-step guide to creating a study in Koji, from typing a research goal on the dashboard to working with the AI Consultant to build a research brief, interview plan with structured questions, and tips on uploading context documents.","content":"# Creating Your First Study\n\nCreating a study in Koji means turning your research question into a structured interview plan — and the AI Consultant does most of the heavy lifting. You describe what you want to learn, and together you build a research brief that guides every interview.\n\nThe whole process typically takes about 5 minutes.\n\n---\n\n## Starting a New Study\n\nOn your [dashboard](/dashboard), you'll see a greeting:\n\n> **\"What do you want to learn?\"**\n\nType your research question or goal in the text input below. There's no special format required — just describe what you want to learn in plain language. Here are some examples of good starting points:\n\n- \"Why are users dropping off during our onboarding flow?\"\n- \"How do small business owners currently manage their invoicing?\"\n- \"What factors influence a parent's choice of after-school programs?\"\n- \"I want to validate whether remote workers would pay for a co-working day pass.\"\n\nClick **Start study** to begin. The AI Consultant opens a conversation to help you design your research.\n\nThe more specific you are, the better the AI Consultant can help. But even a vague starting point works — the Consultant will ask follow-up questions to sharpen the focus.\n\nYou can also start from the **Studies** page at /dashboard/studies, where a **New study** button is available, or choose a template from the template library on the main dashboard.\n\n### What Makes a Good Research Question?\n\nThe best research questions are:\n\n- **Specific** — focused on a particular behavior, decision, or experience rather than a broad topic.\n- **Open-ended** — designed to explore \"how\" and \"why,\" not just \"what\" or \"how many.\"\n- **Actionable** — tied to a decision you need to make or a problem you need to solve.\n\nFor example, \"Tell me about user experience\" is too broad. \"Why do first-time users abandon the checkout flow before completing a purchase?\" gives the AI Consultant much more to work with.\n\nFor more guidance, see [Writing a Research Question](/docs/writing-a-research-question).\n\n---\n\n## The AI Consultant Conversation\n\nOnce you've entered your research goal and clicked **Start study**, the AI Consultant takes over as your research design partner. Think of it as working with an experienced qualitative researcher who's helping you plan your study.\n\nHere's what typically happens:\n\n### 1. Clarifying Questions\n\nThe Consultant will ask you a few questions to understand the context:\n\n- Who is your target audience?\n- What decisions will this research inform?\n- Have you done any prior research on this topic?\n- Are there specific hypotheses you want to test?\n\nAnswer in as much or as little detail as you like. The Consultant adapts to whatever you provide.\n\n### 2. Methodology Suggestion\n\nBased on your research goal and context, the Consultant will recommend a methodology. Koji supports several established qualitative frameworks:\n\n- **Mom Test** — great for validating product ideas without leading the participant.\n- **Jobs to Be Done (JTBD)** — ideal for understanding what \"job\" users are hiring your product to do.\n- **Customer Discovery** — structured exploration of problems, needs, and existing solutions.\n- **Exploratory** — open-ended conversations for early-stage research.\n- **Lead Magnet** — designed to gather quotable statistics and insights for public reports.\n- **And more** — the Consultant draws from a range of methodologies and can blend approaches.\n\nYou don't need to know these frameworks in advance. The Consultant explains why it's recommending a particular approach and how it fits your goal. If you have a preference, just say so — \"I'd like to use the Mom Test approach\" — and it'll adjust.\n\nLearn more in [Understanding the AI Consultant](/docs/understanding-the-ai-consultant) and [Choosing a Methodology](/docs/choosing-a-methodology).\n\n### 3. Research Brief Creation\n\nThe Consultant drafts a **research brief** — a structured document that defines:\n\n- **Research objectives** — what you're trying to learn, stated clearly.\n- **Target audience** — who you should be interviewing.\n- **Key themes** — the main topics the interviews will explore.\n- **Success criteria** — what a \"good\" answer looks like for this research.\n\nThis brief becomes the foundation for the interview plan. Review it carefully — this is where you can make adjustments before the interview questions are generated. For a deeper look, see [Understanding the Research Brief](/docs/understanding-the-research-brief).\n\n### 4. Interview Plan and Structured Questions\n\nBased on the approved brief, the Consultant builds an **interview plan** — the actual conversation flow that Koji's AI will use during interviews. The plan includes:\n\n- **Opening questions** — warm-up questions that ease the participant into the conversation.\n- **Core exploration questions** — the main questions that dig into your research themes.\n- **Structured questions** — interactive question widgets that capture quantifiable data during the conversation.\n- **Follow-up probes** — adaptive questions the AI will ask based on what the participant says.\n- **Closing questions** — wrap-up questions that capture any final thoughts.\n\n#### Structured Question Types\n\nUnlike traditional survey platforms that only collect checkbox data, Koji combines conversational AI interviews with interactive structured questions — giving you both qualitative depth and quantitative rigor in a single session. The available question types are:\n\n- **Scale** — numeric ratings like NPS (0-10), satisfaction (1-5), or likelihood (1-7). Configure min, max, and endpoint labels.\n- **Single choice** — pick one option from a list. Great for segmentation and preferences.\n- **Multiple choice** — select all that apply. Useful for feature usage, pain points, and tools used.\n- **Ranking** — drag to order items by preference or priority.\n- **Yes/No** — binary questions for quick screening or confirmation.\n- **Open-ended** — free-form conversational questions for qualitative depth.\n\nEach structured question can be configured with **probing depth** (0-3 follow-ups) so the AI automatically asks follow-up questions to understand the \"why\" behind every rating or selection. For scale questions, you can enable **anchor probing** — after a participant gives a rating, the AI asks what would change that score.\n\nLearn more about designing effective structured questions in the [Structured Questions Guide](/docs/structured-questions-guide).\n\nThe interview plan isn't a rigid script. Koji's AI uses it as a guide but adapts in real time based on each participant's responses, following up on interesting threads and probing deeper when it detects valuable insights.\n\n---\n\n## [Uploading Context Documents](/docs/uploading-context-documents)\n\nWant to give the AI Consultant more background? You can upload context documents during the study creation process. Supported file types include:\n\n- **PDF** — research reports, product specs, strategy documents.\n- **TXT** — plain text notes, interview transcripts from previous research.\n- **DOCX / DOC** — Word documents with any relevant background.\n- **JSON** — structured data like survey results or analytics exports.\n- **MD** — Markdown files with notes or documentation.\n\nThe Consultant reads these documents and uses them to craft more relevant questions and better-targeted research. For example, uploading your product's feature documentation helps the Consultant understand what specific features to ask about.\n\nYou don't have to upload anything — it's entirely optional. But if you have relevant context, sharing it produces noticeably better interview plans.\n\n---\n\n## Reviewing and Iterating\n\nBefore publishing, take time to review both the research brief and the interview plan. Ask yourself:\n\n- **Does the brief accurately capture my research goals?** If not, tell the Consultant what's missing or off-track.\n- **Are the interview questions going to surface the insights I need?** Read through the plan and imagine a participant answering each question.\n- **Are the structured questions well-calibrated?** Check that scale ranges, choice options, and probing settings match what you want to measure.\n- **Is the methodology right for my situation?** If you're not sure, ask the Consultant to explain the trade-offs.\n- **Is the target audience well-defined?** Vague audience definitions lead to unfocused interviews.\n\nYou can go back and forth with the Consultant as many times as you need. Say things like:\n\n- \"Can you add a scale question for NPS with a 0-10 range?\"\n- \"Add a multiple choice question about which features they use most.\"\n- \"The tone feels too formal — make it more conversational.\"\n- \"I want to focus more on the switching behavior and less on general satisfaction.\"\n- \"Switch to a Jobs to Be Done framework instead.\"\n\nThe Consultant will revise the brief and plan based on your feedback. There's no limit to how many iterations you can do.\n\n---\n\n## Publishing Your Study\n\nOnce you're happy with everything, hit **Publish**. This:\n\n- Locks in your research brief and interview plan.\n- Generates a unique, shareable interview link.\n- Moves the study from Draft to Active status.\n\nYour study is now live. Share the interview link with participants and start collecting responses. You can [customize the branding](/docs/customizing-branding) of your interview landing page to match your organization's identity.\n\nFor more on publishing and what happens next, see [Publishing Your Study](/docs/publishing-your-study).\n\n---\n\n## First Study Checklist\n\nBefore you publish, make sure:\n\n- [ ] Your research question is specific and actionable.\n- [ ] The research brief accurately reflects your goals.\n- [ ] The interview plan covers all the themes you care about.\n- [ ] Structured questions have appropriate scales, options, and probing settings.\n- [ ] The target audience is clearly defined.\n- [ ] You've uploaded any relevant context documents (optional but recommended).\n- [ ] You've read through the interview questions and imagined participant responses.\n\n---\n\n## Next Steps\n\n- [Understanding the AI Consultant](/docs/understanding-the-ai-consultant) — learn how to get the most out of your research design partner.\n- [Structured Questions Guide](/docs/structured-questions-guide) — design effective structured questions for quantitative data capture.\n- [Publishing Your Study](/docs/publishing-your-study) — what happens when you go live.\n- [Choosing a Methodology](/docs/choosing-a-methodology) — a deeper look at the qualitative frameworks Koji supports.\n- [Sharing Your Interview Link](/docs/sharing-your-interview-link) — distribution strategies to reach your target audience.\n\n## Further reading on the blog\n\n- [Koji vs Strella: The Real Comparison of AI-Moderated Research Platforms (2026)](/blog/koji-vs-strella-2026) — Strella hit $1.6M ARR with enterprise pricing. Koji wins on transparency, six structured question types, and accessibility. Honest 2026 comp\n\n<!-- further-reading:blog -->\n","category":"Getting Started","lastModified":"2026-05-13T00:33:21.41039+00:00","metaTitle":"Creating Your First Study — Koji Docs","metaDescription":"Create your first Koji study: describe your research question, work with the AI Consultant, and build an interview plan.","keywords":["create study","research question","AI consultant","interview plan","research brief","methodology","first study"],"aiSummary":"Step-by-step guide to creating a study in Koji, from typing a research goal on the dashboard to working with the AI Consultant to build a research brief, interview plan with structured questions, and tips on uploading context documents.","aiPrerequisites":["creating-your-account"],"aiLearningOutcomes":["Create a new study from a research question","Work with the AI Consultant to design a research brief","Upload context documents to improve research quality","Review and iterate on interview plans before publishing"],"aiDifficulty":"beginner","aiEstimatedTime":"7 min read"}],"pagination":{"total":1,"returned":1,"offset":0}}