Viewing Interview Transcripts

Every interview conducted through Koji produces a complete transcript you can review at any time. Whether your participants used voice or text, you'll find a full record of the conversation — including every question asked and every response given.

How It Works

Once a participant completes an interview, Koji automatically generates a readable transcript. For voice interviews, the audio is transcribed and formatted into a clean conversation view. For text interviews, the messages appear exactly as they were typed.

You can access transcripts from your study's results page. Each completed interview appears as a card showing the participant's name (or anonymous identifier), the date of the interview, and a quality score. Click on any interview card to open the full transcript.

Navigating to Transcripts

1. Open your study Navigate to your dashboard and select the study you want to review. The study results page has three tabs: Experience, Recruit, and Responses.

2. Go to the Responses tab The Responses tab lists all completed interviews as cards with key details — the participant identifier, completion date, duration, and quality score.

3. Open the Analysis Drawer Click on any interview card to open the Analysis Drawer — a slide-out panel that shows the AI-generated insights for that interview. The drawer provides a quick summary with themes, sentiment, key quotes, and structured answer data without leaving the results page.

4. View the full transcript For the complete conversation, navigate to the dedicated transcript page at the full interview view. This page provides two views accessible via sidebar navigation: Insights and Transcript. The Insights view shows the AI analysis including the quality score, while the Transcript view displays the complete conversation.

What You'll See in a Transcript

Each transcript includes several key elements:

• The full conversation: Every question and answer, displayed in chronological order
• Timestamps: When each message was sent, helping you understand pacing and engagement
• Quality score: A rating from 1 to 5 indicating the depth and usefulness of the interview, visible in the Insights view (learn more in Understanding Quality Scores)
• AI-generated insights: Themes, sentiment, and key findings available in the Insights view
• Key quotes: Particularly notable or insightful responses highlighted by the AI
• Structured answers: For interviews using structured questions, you'll see the participant's typed responses to scale ratings, multiple-choice selections, rankings, and yes/no answers displayed alongside the conversational context

Structured Answer Display

When your study includes structured question types — scales, single or multiple choice, rankings, or yes/no questions — the transcript shows both the widget interaction and the surrounding conversation. This means you can see:

• The exact rating a participant gave on a scale question (e.g., 7 out of 10)
• Which options they selected in a choice question
• How they ranked a set of items
• Their yes/no response

Critically, you also see the qualitative follow-up: what the AI interviewer asked after the structured response, and how the participant explained their reasoning. This combination of quantitative data and qualitative context is what makes Koji's approach unique.

Tips for Reading Transcripts Effectively

• Start with the Analysis Drawer: Before diving into a full transcript, open the Analysis Drawer from the Responses tab. The AI-generated insights act like a table of contents for the interview. If a theme catches your eye, navigate to the full transcript for context.

• Use the Insights view as a reading guide: On the full transcript page, the Insights view in the sidebar shows themes, key quotes, and structured answers. Scan these first, then switch to the Transcript view for the relevant sections.

• Look for direct quotes: The most powerful data in qualitative research comes from participants' own words. Pay attention to moments where participants describe experiences, frustrations, or desires in vivid language — these make compelling evidence in reports and presentations.

• Compare across interviews: After reading a few transcripts, you'll start noticing patterns. The same frustrations mentioned by different participants, or similar workflows described independently, are strong signals worth investigating further.

• Don't skip low-scoring interviews entirely: While high-quality interviews (scoring 3 or above) are more valuable overall, even shorter or less detailed conversations can contain unexpected insights.

Understanding the Conversation Flow

Koji's AI interviewer adapts its questions based on participant responses. This means each transcript follows a slightly different path. You might notice:

• Follow-up questions: When a participant says something interesting, the AI probes deeper with clarifying questions. These moments often produce the richest insights.

• Structured question widgets: At certain points, the AI presents interactive widgets — a scale slider, a set of choices, or a ranking interface. The participant's interaction with these widgets appears in the transcript alongside the conversational flow. Learn more about the text interview experience.

• Topic transitions: The conversation moves through different themes defined in your study brief. The AI handles these transitions naturally, so the dialogue reads like a real conversation rather than a rigid questionnaire.

• Engagement patterns: Some participants are naturally more talkative than others. The AI adjusts its approach — asking more open-ended questions for brief responders and allowing space for those who share freely.

From Transcripts to Action

Transcripts are your raw research data. They're the foundation for everything else — the individual AI-generated insights, the themes and patterns that emerge across interviews, and the aggregate reports you can generate for stakeholders.

Think of each transcript as a primary source. When you spot something interesting in a report or insight summary, you can always trace it back to the original conversation to verify context and nuance.

Key Things to Know

• Transcripts are permanent: Once an interview is complete, the transcript is saved and available for as long as your account is active. You can revisit transcripts months later for re-analysis.

• Voice transcription accuracy: Voice interviews are transcribed with high accuracy. However, specialized terminology, strong accents, or poor audio quality may occasionally result in minor transcription errors. Always check the original context if a quote seems unclear.

• Privacy matters: Transcripts contain participant data. Be mindful of how you share and store this information, especially if your research involves sensitive topics.

Related Articles

• Understanding Quality Scores — Learn what makes an interview high-quality
• AI-Generated Insights — See what analysis Koji produces for each interview
• Generating Research Reports — Turn your transcripts into aggregate research reports
• Structured Questions Guide — How to use scale, choice, ranking, and yes/no questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I download or export a transcript? A: You can view transcripts directly in Koji. For sharing content, you can copy the text or use the report generation feature to create a formatted summary. The data export tools also let you extract structured answer data.

Q: How long does it take for a transcript to appear after an interview? A: Transcripts are available almost immediately after an interview completes. For voice interviews, there may be a brief delay of a few seconds while the audio is processed.

Q: Are transcripts editable? A: Transcripts are read-only to preserve the integrity of your research data. This ensures that the raw data remains unchanged and can always be referenced as the original source.

Q: What happens to transcripts if I change my plan? A: Your existing transcripts remain accessible regardless of plan changes. They are part of your completed research data and will not be deleted when you change plans.

Q: Can I search across all transcripts in a study? A: The best way to find specific content across multiple interviews is to use the AI-generated insights and themes, which aggregate information across all transcripts. You can also use the research report to see cross-interview patterns.

Further reading on the blog

• Customer Research Done Right: A Complete Guide for Product Teams — Customer research is the foundation of every successful product decision. Learn the types, methods, and best practices that help product tea
• How to Run AI-Powered Customer Interviews at Scale — Learn how to conduct effective customer interviews at scale using AI. This comprehensive guide covers everything from planning and question
• Koji vs Dovetail: Which Research Tool Is Right for You? — Dovetail organizes research data. Koji conducts the research for you. An honest breakdown of both tools to help you decide which one your te

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