Your hidden research motive
A motive is your confidential research goal — the real thing you are trying to learn beneath the surface. For example: "Find out whether slow performance is the real reason people cancel, without asking about speed directly."
The motive is never shown to respondents and never spoken aloud. Instead, it quietly sharpens your interviewer's curiosity toward your actual objective while staying completely ethical. The AI may re-emphasize a relevant theme, but it cannot ask leading or manipulative questions — and ChatWisp has built-in protection so this hidden intent can never leak to a respondent.
The value: you get conversations that gently surface what you actually need to know, without tipping your hand or biasing the answers.
Guardrails — ethical boundaries
Guardrails are rules your interviewer always honors:
- Off-limits topics — subjects to never raise (for example, "don't ask about salary"). The interviewer will not raise them, ask about them, or probe deeper even if a respondent brings them up.
- Required disclosures — things to always say up front ("let people know this conversation is recorded").
- Tone constraints — guidance like "keep it light and fun, never ominous."
Welcome and closing screens
Frame your conversation with optional, rich messages shown before the form starts and after it ends. Use them to set context, build rapport, or thank people and point them to next steps — with text plus video, images, or embedded media.
Common questions
Can respondents ever see the motive?
No. It is excluded from everything sent to the browser, and the interviewer's replies are filtered so it cannot be repeated back even if someone asks the AI directly.
Why is my interviewer going off-script?
Almost always the motive is written as an instruction rather than a goal. "Find out why people cancel" steers follow-ups; "ask about our new pricing as much as possible" competes with your questions. Validation flags instruction-shaped motives for exactly this reason.
What is the difference between off-limits and never-probe topics?
An off-limits topic is avoided entirely. A never-probe topic is captured if a respondent raises it, but never followed up on — the right setting for something you need recorded but should not dig into.
Do guardrails work in every language?
Yes. They are applied in the engine rather than through phrasing, so they hold whichever language the interview is running in.
Related
Respecting your respondents · Let your interviewer answer questions