Your codebook was built for wave one. Your respondents have moved on. Here’s how to review what’s new. Modern text analysis for market research requires a system that automatically surfaces emerging themes so your codebook evolves alongside consumer trends.
Wave seven, and the codebook is still from wave one
Say you run a brand tracker for an FMCG snack brand in the US. Every quarter, one open-ended question asks what comes to mind when people think of the brand. Two years ago, you built a codebook for the answers: flavor, packaging, availability, and value.
Then a competitor launches a high-protein line. In wave seven, respondents start writing about protein and comparing the brand to the newcomer. Some comments get squeezed under flavor. Others land in Outlier, the category for responses that match no topic.
Nobody flags it. The readout goes out with the same four themes. The new conversation sits unread until a stakeholder asks why the deck never mentioned protein.
This is where emerging themes in TextAI could have saved the day.
Learn More: Emerging themes in TextAI help documentation
How does TextAI analyze open-ended responses in QuestionPro BI?
TextAI is the text analysis tool for market research inside QuestionPro BI. It reads open-ended responses and organizes them into themes and sub-themes. Responses that match no topic go under Outlier.
You choose the structure. Upload your own codebook, or generate one with QuestionPro AI. Then refine the results in Theme configuration. Create themes, merge similar ones, assign responses by hand, and recode.
For setup and the wider workflow, see the advanced text analysis and TextAI qualitative analysis posts.
A shared codebook keeps studies and analysts consistent. That’s its strength, and also why it can lag when the conversation changes.
What are emerging themes in TextAI?
Emerging themes are candidate themes and sub-themes for you to review. They appear in Theme configuration, labeled Pending approval. Each candidate comes with a sub-theme description and a response percentage.
Select a pending sub-theme and the raw-response panel filters to the comments behind it. When you’re ready, Approve is waiting in the selection bar.
Candidates are suggestions, not verdicts. They give you a review step where you’d otherwise be reading raw comments and guessing. Want the launch details? Read the emerging themes announcement.
How to use emerging themes in your market research
Back to wave seven. Add the new responses to the source behind the dashboard, then click Process now. When processing finishes, open Theme configuration. If a candidate turns up, it’s labeled Pending approval. Say it’s a sub-theme about protein.
Select it. The raw-response panel shows the comments behind it. Read them next to the description and the response percentage. Then ask three questions. Do these comments describe one coherent topic? Is the name accurate? Is it distinct from flavor and your other themes?
If it holds up, click Approve. If it doesn’t, leave it be. Either way, read through Outlier too. Not every unfamiliar comment becomes a candidate, so the feedback outside your named themes still deserves a look.
Now the readout has evidence. Instead of guessing whether protein matters, you’re reading what respondents actually wrote. You decide before the deck goes out, not after a stakeholder asks.
The advantages of emerging themes for insights teams
Here’s what changes when new topics arrive with their evidence attached.
- Evidence beside every candidate.
Each pending sub-theme carries a description and a response percentage, so you’re never judging a label alone.
- The comments, a click away.
Select a sub-theme and the raw-response panel filters to what respondents actually wrote.
- A human decision, not a rubber stamp.
Approve is a button you press after reading, so no candidate gets waved through on its name alone.
- Control over the Emerging label.
The emerging status duration setting sets how long approved items are labeled Emerging, starting on the approval date.
- Outliers stay in view.
TextAI groups responses that don’t match a taxonomy topic under outliers, so you can read them next to the candidates.
Running trackers with open-ended questions? This is the review step that keeps your analysis honest.
When to use it, and when not to
Use it when new response batches or tracker waves bring concerns your codebook wasn’t built for. It also helps when you want candidates and outliers reviewed together. Just make sure someone is free to read the comments.
Skip it if you need a guaranteed new theme for every unusual response. Detection isn’t guaranteed, which is why outliers matter. And don’t treat a label or a response percentage as proof that a topic matters. It’s a prompt to look closer.
How to review your first candidate
- Open TextAI, hover over the dashboard you want to review, and click its Theme configuration icon.
- Find sub-themes labeled pending approval.
- Select one to see its comments in the raw-response panel.
- Read the comments next to the description and response percentage.
- Click Approve in the selection bar if the sub-theme holds up.
To choose how long approved items stay labeled Emerging, click the settings icon in Theme configuration. Under Preferences, pick a value from the Emerging status duration dropdown, then click Done. The clock starts on the approval date.
Have new responses waiting? Click Process now first. The process new responses help page walks through it.
One caution: if you run Recode later, choose the scope carefully. Recoding all sub-themes can overwrite manual assignments. The full walkthrough is in the help documentation.
Get started with emerging themes today
A codebook keeps your tracker consistent. Emerging themes let you review what has changed. Add that review step, and you decide which new topics are worth approving.
Ready to see what your next wave is really saying? Create a free account and take a closer look at your open-ended feedback.
Frequently asked questions
TextAI is the text analysis tool for market research in QuestionPro BI. It analyzes open-ended responses and organizes them into themes and sub-themes. Start with a codebook you upload or one generated by QuestionPro AI, then refine the results in Theme configuration.
Emerging themes are candidate themes and sub-themes that TextAI provides for your review in Theme configuration. Each one is labeled Pending approval and comes with a description and a response percentage. You read the comments behind it, then decide whether to approve it.
No. New or unusual feedback doesn’t guarantee a candidate. TextAI uses the Outlier category for responses that don’t match a taxonomy topic, so review outliers as well as candidates. A candidate showing up also doesn’t prove it matters, so read the comments first.
Open TextAI, hover over your dashboard, and click its Theme configuration icon. Select a sub-theme labeled Pending approval to see its comments in the raw-response panel. Read the description and response percentage, too. Approve is available in the selection bar.
Don’t count on it. Approving a candidate is your decision about that candidate, and manual coding changes are changes to your coding. That doesn’t promise TextAI will remember your preferences on future runs. Plan to review candidates each time you process new responses.
