# SmartProbe: A Virtual Moderator for Market Research Surveys

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.08271 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.08271/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 5 of its 14 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 14 May 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Training language models to follow instructions with human feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.02155/) (2022)
- [Adding Chit-Chat to Enhance Task-Oriented Dialogues](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.12757/) (2020)
- [Answer-based Adversarial Training for Generating Clarification Questions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.02281/) (2019)
- [Evaluating Prerequisite Qualities for Learning End-to-End Dialog Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1511.06931/) (2015)
- [Generating Factoid Questions With Recurrent Neural Networks: The 30M Factoid Question-Answer Corpus](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1603.06807/) (2016)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [AI-Assisted Conversational Interviewing: Effects on Data Quality and Respondent Experience](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.13908/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Market research surveys are a powerful methodology for understanding consumer perspectives at scale, but are limited by depth of understanding and insights. A virtual moderator can introduce elements of qualitative research into surveys, developing a rapport with survey participants and dynamically asking probing questions, ultimately to elicit more useful information for market researchers. In this work, we introduce tt SmartProbe, an API which leverages the adaptive capabilities of large language models (LLMs), and incorporates domain knowledge from market research, in order to generate effective probing questions in any market research survey. We outline the modular processing flow of tt SmartProbe, and evaluate the quality and effectiveness of its generated probing questions. We believe our efforts will inspire industry practitioners to build real-world applications based on the latest advances in LLMs. Our demo is publicly available at https://nexxt.in/smartprobe-demo