Immerse yourself in Discuss's interactive meeting room, crafted to replicate the observation rooms or viewing facilities, but for Online Qualitative Research.
With a dedicated observer role ensuring smooth, unobtrusive observation, participants feel at ease expressing themselves while you seamlessly chat with moderators and other observers in a dedicated backroom chat.
Our user-friendly platform places a premium on security, privacy, and intuitive design, guaranteeing a seamless experience for all team members and key stakeholders.
To observe a Live Qual Research
- Grab your unique observer link, which looks like this: https://app.discuss.io/xxxxx/o
- Review the platform system requirements
- Join via computer or mobile using the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge
- Make your invaluable inputs heard by capturing specific conversation moments, tagging relevant topics, or effortlessly sharing key takeaways with the research team. Learn here
Joining the Meeting Room
For privacy and security, each discussion has a unique observer link. You'll receive a link for each interview you'll observe. Simply click the link, follow the instructions, and you'll be in a waiting room.
Don't worry, you'll join the meeting when the respondent and moderator are ready. While waiting, you can use the backroom chat for easy communication. If live support is included, our platform support agent assist in the discussion.
Instructions
- Click on your Unique Observer Link
- Enter your First name & email address
- Agree to the Privacy Policy & Terms of Service
- Click on "Continue"
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Allow Camera & Microphone access
- This is only for a system capability check. You won't be seen/heard in the meeting room
- Choose whether you want to listen to the session using web audio or dialing in by phone. We always recommend web audio for the highest-quality session
- If the discussion includes simultaneous translation, you'll have the option to select your audio language
- Click on "Confirm"
Listening In via Your Phone
When clicking on your observer link & selecting your audio settings, you'll be able to select if you want to listen in via your phone.
Enter your phone number and click Call Me.
Wait for an incoming call and listen to the intro message. It will prompt you to enter the 4-digit pin from the lower right of the audio settings modal.
You will be placed on hold until the moderator is ready to start the meeting. You will only hear hold music until the moderator or support invites you into the session.
You can close your web session if you need to and continue listening with audio only.
Alternatively, you can also select Show Dial-in instructions if you want to initiate the phone call from your handset. Select your country from the dropdown list and then call the number shown. You will be prompted to enter the PIN from the lower right corner of the audio settings modal.
To listen to a discussion via audio-only on your mobile device, you can dial in directly
Meeting Room Features for Observers
- Participant List
- Once invited into the room, observers can use the participant list to see who is in the meeting room at any time by clicking on the "people" button in the lower-left corner of the screen.
- Right Panel
- Observers can chat with moderators, support, and translators both before and during the live discussion. They can also start private chats if needed. If you require early access to monitor respondent tech checks, you can use the chat to inform the appropriate party.
- If your moderator has uploaded a discussion guide to the project, you can view the topics and questions to follow along during the session.
- If your project includes polling, you can watch real-time poll results after the moderator launches the poll. Once the moderator closes the poll, the results will no longer be visible.
- Help!
- If you need technical assistance, feel free to use the Help! button. The Platform Support agent will initiate a private chat with you within 60 seconds, to troubleshoot.
- The help button is only available after the recording is started, if you need help before the recording starts please write directly in the chat
- Save Moment
- Once the recording begins, the "Save Moment" button will become active. Click it when you hear an interesting insight from the respondent to save a 30-second clip, capturing 15 seconds before and after the click. Learn more about Save Moment & Tagging
- Translation Line
- If you have a session with translation, you can use the toggle option located in the bottom left corner of the meeting room, to select your audio
- If you need to join by phone, you will select your language in the web session and then be connected to that audio stream.
- Takeaways
- If takeaways are enabled, you'll see a page at the end of the meeting. Here, you can share your thoughts by answering some questions. Your responses can be seen and downloaded by the project owner and project members. If you forget to answer, don't worry! We'll send you a friendly reminder email with a link to finish up.
Waiting Page
Observers will land on a waiting page after connecting until the moderator is ready to begin. If you need to join to observe the setup, you can use the backroom chat to send a message to the moderator or support agent.
Discussion Layout
- This example shows the meeting room from an observer perspective for a Focus Group of 8 respondents
- The video feed of respondents connected via a mobile device will appear vertically if they didn't allow landscape mode on their mobile
Troubleshooting
If at any time you have audio, video, or connection issues, you can refresh your browser. If that doesn't resolve the issue, use the help button to ask support or the moderator to reset your connection using the refresh button in the participant list.
If you're having trouble viewing the video stream, you can change the Video Stream Quality by clicking on the settings button in the lower right corner and changing it under Room Settings.
Live Meeting Room Transcript
The Live Meeting Room Transcript provides a real-time text feed of your session directly within the Meeting Room. This allows moderators and observers to follow the conversation as it happens in the original spoken language.
How it Works
Real-Time Display: The transcript appears in the right-side panel (under the Chat tab) and updates instantly as moderators and respondents speak.
Session Language: The transcript is generated in the language set for the session. For example, if the session is conducted in Spanish, the transcript will appear in Spanish.
Individual Control: Each participant can start or stop their own live transcript without affecting others.
Visibility: Only moderators and observers can view the live transcript; it is never visible to respondents.
Helpful Tips for Use
Real-Time Viewing: The live transcript is a temporary tool designed for real-time engagement and is not saved. Once the session ends, the live text is purged.
Toggling Transcription: If you stop the transcript during a session, the current history is cleared for your view. Restarting it will begin the transcript again from that specific moment.
Custom Vocabulary: The live transcript pulls from any Custom Vocabulary Lists created for the project. If your session involves technical subjects, specific jargon, or unique acronyms, adding them to a list beforehand will significantly improve the accuracy of the live transcription.
AI Simultaneous Translation
AI Simultaneous Translation enhances the Meeting Room experience by adding a real-time English translation layer to non-English sessions. This allows observers to follow sessions live in English without requiring a human translator in the backroom.
How it Works
The Toggle: Moderators and observers can switch between the original session language transcript and the AI-generated English translation.
Viewing Layer: The translation is a visual tool for live viewing only; it does not change the audio or the final video recording.
User-Specific: Each moderator or observer chooses their own setting. Enabling translation for yourself does not change the view for other participants.
Access Roles: This feature is available to Moderators, Observers, and Support agents. It is not available to respondents.
Post-Session Behavior
Finalized Transcripts: Regardless of whether you use the live feature, the platform automatically generates a finalized transcript in the session language and an English translation for post-session access on the Recordings page.
Things to Note
Non-English Sessions Only: If the session language is set to English, the translation toggle will not be visible.
Compatibility with Human Translators: AI Simultaneous Translation cannot be used at the same time as a human simultaneous translator in the same Meeting Room. If your meeting is configured to use a human simultaneous translator, the AI Simultaneous Translation feature is not supported and will not be available.
Session Persistence: Like the standard transcript, the translation feed is not saved. If you stop the transcription mid-session or when the meeting ends, the live translation history is cleared.
Enablement: If you do not see this option in your Meeting Room, please reach out to your Account Manager for assistance.
Custom Vocabulary: The live transcript pulls from any Custom Vocabulary Lists created for the project. If your session involves technical subjects, specific jargon, or unique acronyms, adding them to a list beforehand will significantly improve the accuracy of the AI translation.
Supported languages for Live Meeting Room Transcription and AI translation
View the full list of supported languages here
Note: Tagalog is currently not supported for the Live Meeting Room Transcription and Translation
Observer Features - Video Overview