Conversation Summary Guidelines
Conversation Summary Guidelines allow Admins to define exactly how AI should structure participant summaries for a given Conversation Task. By replacing freeform AI recaps with a consistent, objective-driven framework, this feature transforms summaries into structured analytical outputs that are easier to compare and better aligned to research goals.
For researchers, this ensures that the most critical insights are captured reliably across all participants, enabling faster pattern recognition and more credible findings for stakeholders.
This article will cover:
Task Configuration
Summary Guidelines are managed at the individual task level. For every Conversation Task, the platform automatically generates a set of Summary Guidelines based on the defined Conversation Objective.
The complexity of the generated framework reflects the detail provided in your objective; more detailed objectives will produce a more expanded, specific set of headers. However, Admins can review and further customize how summaries are generated if desired.
To customize Summary Guidelines:
📍 Go to the Task Setup page for a Conversation Task
- Define your Conversation Objective.
- Beneath the objective, select the View and edit summary guidelines checkbox.
- Refine the AI-generated framework within the text editor to match your specific reporting needs or analytical preferences.
- Note: These guidelines only shape the final Conversation Task summary, and do not impact the behaviour of the AI moderator during the live conversation.
- Click Save.
Preview and Validation
To ensure the summaries will meet your expectations before launching a study, researchers can utilize the integrated preview and validation experience.
After completing a Conversation Task preview, you will be presented with a modal that displays the active Summary Guidelines alongside the Conversation Summary generated from your interaction.
To iterate on your structure, follow these steps:
- Within the preview modal, select the Summary Guidelines tab.
- Adjust the structure or headers as needed.
- Select Save and Preview to instantly refresh the summary based on your changes.
- Once satisfied with the output, select Done.
Summary Generation and Regeneration
Once a task is live, Recollective AI generates participant summaries according to your defined guidelines. If insights are uncovered that do not fit into your primary headers, they are captured under an Additional Highlights section to ensure no data is lost.
Admins can continue to update Summary Guidelines even after responses have been collected. If guidelines are changed after a summary has been generated, the summary will be flagged as "outdated”.
To update an individual summary to the latest guidelines:
- Locate the participant response in the Stream or Task results.
- Click the Regenerate button on the participant's Conversation Summary.