terminology
I am writing about a survey I wrote to evaluate the usability of a program. When describing the methodology of the survey, I refer to the person conducting the survey as the investigator. What should I call the other person?
The investigator gave the [?] a tour of the functions of the application.
Quoting from here:
Persona as a literary term refers to the narrator or speaker of the poem, not to be confused with the author — a narrative voice other than the poet tells the entire poem. When the poet creates a character to be the speaker, that character is called the persona and the poet imagines what it is like to enter someone else’s personality. A good example of this is in Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess”, where the persona is the Duke of Ferrara.
The term speaker is perhaps more appropriate when referring to a poem, as a narrator may be confused with either the person interpreting the poem, or the narrator of a novel. However, it always depends on how you intend to use the term.
You might call it the interim.
Best Answer
I suspect participant may be more common, particularly when pluralised, but that may simply be because it's a more common word applicable in many other contexts. For a single individual in this context, respondent seems more precise to me.
It's less common, but I think interviewee is equally suitable in OP's context.