QInsights Tips & Tricks: Mastering AI-Powered Analysis

Dear

Today, I’d like to share some tips on how to analyze data in a conversational manner using QInsights. In workshops and while supporting users, I’ve noticed that many start by putting the cart before the horse—their first question in the chat is often long and complex, expecting the AI assistant to deliver a fully-formed answer in one go like: please build a model, identify all relationships, provide supporting quotes and phrase everything so perfectly that it can be used in a report without further editing.

I may be exaggerating a little, but the tendency is there. My guess is that this expectation comes from the hype surrounding AI—the belief that everything can be automated and results delivered instantly.

Don’t get me wrong; I am continually impressed by what’s possible—especially with the new reasoning models (which we will be introducing soon). However, achieving high-quality results with AI still depends on your expertise. You are the ones who must provide the right input and ask the right questions.

Recently, while teaching a workshop, my role was to explain the process of analysis. I couldn’t have conducted the analysis myself because it wasn’t my area of expertise—I wouldn’t have known the right questions to ask.That’s why today I want to share some tips about the process. By leveraging your own expertise when working with QInsights, you’ll be better equipped to achieve the high-quality results you’re looking for.

Tip No. 1: Build Your Analysis from the Ground Up

Start with descriptive questions about your topic of interest. If something catches your attention, ask follow-up questions to explore it further. With each question, you’ll deepen your understanding of the data, allowing new insights to emerge naturally.

Once you feel you have gathered enough information, ask Q, your AI assistant, to summarize the conversation. You can do this on a case-by-case basis (see Tip No. 3) or for all data in the conversation. From there, you can explore similarities and differences across responses or identify unique aspects relevant to only a few cases.

To consolidate your findings, ask Q to create a table summarizing the key aspects, categories, or themes in the rows and the cases, respondents, or documents in the columns. This structured overview helps you quickly spot patterns and relationships.

For more details on how to request tables, refer to the QInsights Guide .

👉 This is what such a series of questions can look like:

Topic: Friendship Beginnings

• How did the respondents describe the way they first met their friend?

• What were their first impressions of the person who later became their friend?

• What shared interests or experiences initially helped to build their friendship?

• What activities did they participate in that helped strengthen their bond?

• How did these activities evolve over time?

• Was their a moment or event early in the relationship that deepened their emotional connection?

• Were there any barriers that initially hindered the development of your friendship? Conversely, what factors seemed to facilitate the friendship?

Asking for a case-based summary:

Write a summary essay about Shazia's friendship, using direct quotes from her interview. Include how she met her friend, her first impressions, their common interests, activities that strengthened their bond, any emotional moments that deepened their friendship, and about the barriers and facilitators. The essay should provide a well-rounded narrative of their friendship journey while keeping the respondent’s voice authentic.

Tip No. 2: Use QInsights’ AI-Assistant to Generate Question Ideas

A quick way to generate question ideas is to use the AI-Assistant on the QInsights Dashboard. This tool allows you to have a general chat with Q, independent of your data, to brainstorm potential questions. For example, if you're analyzing how friendships begin, you could ask:

"I have interview data where respondents discuss the meaning of friendship. I want to analyze how friendships begin. Can you provide a list of questions to explore the early stages of friendships?"

Given what I wrote earlier about the importance of your expertise in asking the right questions, this might seem like a paradox. While AI can suggest questions, it is ultimately your expertise as a researcher that determines which aspects are worth investigating and how to phrase them. You decide which areas to explore and how to frame your analysis. Here, Q simply serves as a sparring partner, helping you formulate and structure your questions more efficiently.

Tip No. 3: Start with Meaningful Subsets of Your Data

Begin your analysis by selecting a small subset of your data—around 3 to 6 documents—as a starting point. Think back to the days when you coded data manually. You wouldn’t have gone through all documents for an initial loose round of coding, only to repeat the process multiple times to refine it. Instead, best practice was to start with a few documents, develop and refine your coding system, and then apply the finalized coding frame to the rest of the data.

The same principle applies when working with QInsights. Focus on one specific topic at a time and start by analyzing a subset of your data. What you learn from this initial set can then be applied to the next subset or the rest of your dataset.

Similar to the process of developing a coding frame, you may also refine your questions and discover which phrasing works best. You can then apply these refined questions to the next batch of data. Alternatively, if you’ve identified higher-level concepts from your initial analysis, you can shift to a deductive approach to further explore and analyze the remaining data in a more structured way.

If you apply those tipps in your research, I would love to hear your feedback. Also, if you have tips worthwhile sharing, please let me know. I can share them in my next Tips & Tricks newsletter.

With best regards,

Susanne

PS: If you know colleagues who might benefit from QInsights, feel free to invite them to try it out and see how it can enhance their research. Exploring QInsights is completely free.

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