Answers
How long does a synthetic study take?
A queued Lewsearch study returns in about 15 minutes. One study is one credit. Focus groups and twin interviews are the same meter. Instant chat and live A/B surfaces are Pro features and are not always on.
About 15 minutes, queued
A standard Lewsearch study is not a live chat. You submit the instrument and a market. The job sits in a queue. The published turnaround is about 15 minutes. That clock includes a cold start when the model has been idle, the draw of respondents, the interviews, and the report. If the queue is busy or the model is starting, it can take longer. The page does not promise a fixed SLA.
What comes back is a tabulated panel: option shares, crosstabs, verbatim quotes, two analyst memos, and a client-ready PDF that says the answers are AI-generated. Coverage and live panels are on coverage.
What those minutes are spent on
You write the questions and pick a market. The system draws respondents whose demographics match that market's margins. Each row is a distinct age, education, income, and party draw, not copies of one persona. The same published calibrator every customer gets is applied. There is no per-panel retune after the sale. The artifact is the panel. The statistic is the option share.
How the credit meter works
One study is one credit at the default size: 500 respondents, 3 questions. Focus groups and twin interviews use the same meter. There is no separate SKU for a room or a 1:1 interview. Larger n, a 1,000-person focus group, 51 to 100 twins, a participant-discussion add-on, and multi-market Deep Research cost more than one credit on that meter. Follow-up probes inside a session you already paid for do not. Monadic message tests run a full panel for every cell, so a four-cell test costs four times a single one.
| Deliverable | Credits |
|---|---|
| Panel study, 500 respondents, 3 questions | 1 |
| Panel study, 1,000 / 2,500 / 5,000 / 10,000 | 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 |
| Focus group, panel up to 500 / 1,000 | 1 / 2 |
| Focus group discussion add-on | +1 |
| Twin interview, up to 50 / 51 to 100 | 1 / 2 |
| Multi-market Deep Research | 5 |
Instant surfaces are not always on
Sandbox, Lewn cohort chat, and live A/B Flash are listed on Pro. They need dedicated inference capacity and are paused when that capacity is not funded. They are not something a reader can count on running today. A queued study on the same panel is the product that returns in about 15 minutes. Confirm what is live on pricing.
FAQ
- How long does a synthetic study take?
- A queued Lewsearch study returns in about 15 minutes. One study is one credit. Focus groups and twin interviews are the same meter. Instant chat and live A/B surfaces are Pro features and are not always on.
- What happens during those 15 minutes?
- The study is queued. The model starts if it has been idle. Respondents are drawn to match the market you picked, interviewed on your instrument, and calibrated with the same published calibrator every customer gets. The report comes back as option shares, crosstabs, quotes, and a PDF.
- Does a larger panel take more credits?
- Yes. A 500-respondent study is one credit. 1,000 respondents count as 2, 2,500 as 3, 5,000 as 4, and 10,000 as 5. A focus group is 1 credit up to 500 respondents or 2 at 1,000. Twin interviews are 1 credit up to 50 twins or 2 up to 100. Deep Research is 5. The live table is on /pricing.
- Can I get a result in seconds?
- Sandbox, Lewn cohort chat, and Flash A/B are listed on Pro as instant surfaces. They need dedicated inference capacity and are not always on. Queued studies on the same panel run.
Check the work
Related answers
Canonical: https://lewsearch.com/answers/how-long-does-a-synthetic-study-take