# Improved prompting and process for writing user personas with LLMs, using qualitative interviews: Capturing behaviour and personality traits of users

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.06391 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.06391/

## Key facts

- Cited by 9 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 4 of its 19 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 10 Oct 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [A Prompt Pattern Catalog to Enhance Prompt Engineering with ChatGPT](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.11382/) (2023)
- [LLM-Assisted Content Analysis: Using Large Language Models to Support Deductive Coding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.14924/) (2023)
- [Can Large Language Models emulate an inductive Thematic Analysis of semi-structured interviews? An exploration and provocation on the limits of the approach and the model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.13014/) (2023)
- [Writing user personas with Large Language Models: Testing phase 6 of a Thematic Analysis of semi-structured interviews](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.18099/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [Tell me what I need to know: Exploring LLM-based (Personalized) Abstractive Multi-Source Meeting Summarization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.14545/) (2024)
- [Boosting Relational Deep Learning with Pretrained Tabular Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.04934/) (2025)
- [Using AI for User Representation: An Analysis of 83 Persona Prompts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.13047/) (2025)
- [Giving AI Personalities Leads to More Human-Like Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.14155/) (2025)
- [Revealing Political Bias in LLMs through Structured Multi-Agent Debate](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.11825/) (2025)
- [Illuminating the Black Box: A Psychometric Investigation into the Multifaceted Nature of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.14202/) (2023)
- [PersonaBOT: Bringing Customer Personas to Life with LLMs and RAG](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.17156/) (2025)
- [Prompt Engineering for Scale Development in Generative Psychometrics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.15909/) (2026)
- [The Ultimate Tutorial for AI-driven Scale Development in Generative Psychometrics: Releasing AIGENIE from its Bottle](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.28643/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This draft paper presents a workflow for creating User Personas with Large Language Models, using the results of a Thematic Analysis of qualitative interviews. The proposed workflow uses improved prompting and a larger pool of Themes, compared to previous work conducted by the author for the same task. This is possible due to the capabilities of a recently released LLM which allows the processing of 16 thousand tokens (GPT3.5-Turbo-16k) and also due to the possibility to offer a refined prompting for the creation of Personas. The paper offers details of performing Phase 2 and 3 of Thematic Analysis, and then discusses the improved workflow for creating Personas. The paper also offers some reflections on the relationship between the proposed process and existing approaches to Personas such as the data-driven and qualitative Personas. Moreover, the paper offers reflections on the capacity of LLMs to capture user behaviours and personality traits, from the underlying dataset of qualitative interviews used for the analysis.