Verbatim Transcript for a University Student
Case Study
“Transcribe My Research Interview Recording”
Transcribing research interviews for university professors and students is nothing new to us at Transcribe Lingo. But there’s something in this case study for you that will clear a few things about academic research interviews that you too might need to be transcribed in the future.
This university student wanted us to convert to text her research interview and asked us what would be the best transcript format for her project as she was new to transcription and did not know much. And we recommended verbatim transcription of the research interview and here’s why?
Why?
Any interview recorded for research purposes is detailed to the teeth. But the fact is not every detail makes sense and you’d be better off leaving unnecessary details out. That way the transcript will read more like a book and attain a natural flow without relinquishing necessary details.
Coughs, False Starts, Stutters, “Errms” and “Umms”
This student’s recording contained a lot of coughs, false starts, stutters, “errms” and “umms.” and none of them featured in the verbatim transcript delivered to her because our transcriptionist removed them all.
Accordingly, we transcribed every detail word for word but left out non-essential details like false starts, stutters, “errms” and “umms” that are of no use. This helped us achieve word-for-word accuracy and a natural reading flow.
The Solution
When the student approved of what we intended to do with her recording, the actual work began and we started typing audio into a neatly done transcript. This reminded her of a past experience where an amateur transcriber had done the transcription and delivered a transcript that was hard to read through because it was contaminated with the verbal tics discussed above.
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- No cough or sniffle made it to the transcript because it doesn’t take away anything from the conversation.
- No false start or hmms was mentioned in the transcript because it’s nothing but a distraction and makes reading difficult.
- Any other detail deemed integral to the context of the conversation was kept in the transcript as such lest their removal altered in some way the meaning of the conversation – for example, whether a hmm represents an agreement or disagreement; was it uttered in acknowledgement of something or otherwise?
There’s a reason why academic professionals and students prefer reading the text version of a recording to listening to the original recording. Not just is listening to an audio a time-consuming process, but locating specific information is difficult too. Reading, on the other hand, takes much of the friction away and offers a smooth reading experience with unnecessary details edited out.
The Results
With us, she received a verbatim transcript of her recording which contained only words and no irrelevant audio details that are kept in brackets and break the flow. She found the transcript highly readable and scannable, which made digging through the information a lot easier for her.
She found the transcript perfectly aligned with her own wishes and was all praise for the work of our transcribers. On a nominal fee, she hardly believed she could have received such an accurate and well-formatted transcript of her recording. She was happy and we were too, and thanked us for our service!
Like Her If You Too Need Verbatim Transcription of Dissertation or Research Interview Recordings – Here’s What To Do?
So if you too want to transcribe recorded research interviews or dissertations all you have to do is get in touch with Transcribe Lingo. We wait for your “thank you” call, while you’re delivered an accurate transcript quickly and securely.
