Interviews are an integral part of many research projects. A researcher can amass hundreds of hours of interviews which have to be transcribed precisely. Professors have traditionally turned to undergraduates who want part time work and are willing to take minimal pay for it. Finding students who are trustworthy and accurate is usually the problem. A more viable solution might be the academic transcription services Massachusetts businesses offer.
Some researchers are strong proponents of note taking when interviewing subjects for their projects. The problem with this is that it takes away your ability to listen completely to the individual being interviewed. If you're recording an interview, you don't have to stop the flow of conversation to ask the person to repeat what she just said. It's hard to record the nuances you notice in the interview if you are spending all your time taking notes on just the words being said.
Some researchers try to go over interviews just by listening to them. Transcripts are easier to work with however, when they are written down. When you are listening to recordings, the device has to be stopped, reversed, and forwarded repeatedly to get the information needed. It's much more efficient to have the written word, which can be quickly scanned in order to find specific sections of the interview that are of interest.
When you use a professional transcriber, you can chose the level of transcription that works for your research. You can choose literal transcriptions. This will give you every single word, nuance, and hesitation in the recordings.
If the paralanguage is of no interest to you, you can request intelligent verbatim. In this case the transcriber will skip over hesitations and other nuances in the recordings. If you only want the gist of the conversation, you can request an edited version. For edited versions the researcher must give the transcriber specific instructions on what exactly is meant by editing.
You have several options when it come to who transcribes your recordings. You can certainly do the transcribing yourself. This has the advantage of your presence during the interview. You're the one who had the experience with the individual interviewed and can interpret the nuances and expressions better than anyone else. It is time consuming however.
You could hire one of your students who is majoring in your field of study to do the work. This has the benefit of an enthusiastic young person interested in your research and excited about taking part in it. This individual will also have academic qualifications others won't.
The most reliable option is to use a professional service. Professionals have experience and understand the importance of deadlines. You can choose the level of transcription that best fits your needs. The cost associated with a service could be well worth it.
Some researchers are strong proponents of note taking when interviewing subjects for their projects. The problem with this is that it takes away your ability to listen completely to the individual being interviewed. If you're recording an interview, you don't have to stop the flow of conversation to ask the person to repeat what she just said. It's hard to record the nuances you notice in the interview if you are spending all your time taking notes on just the words being said.
Some researchers try to go over interviews just by listening to them. Transcripts are easier to work with however, when they are written down. When you are listening to recordings, the device has to be stopped, reversed, and forwarded repeatedly to get the information needed. It's much more efficient to have the written word, which can be quickly scanned in order to find specific sections of the interview that are of interest.
When you use a professional transcriber, you can chose the level of transcription that works for your research. You can choose literal transcriptions. This will give you every single word, nuance, and hesitation in the recordings.
If the paralanguage is of no interest to you, you can request intelligent verbatim. In this case the transcriber will skip over hesitations and other nuances in the recordings. If you only want the gist of the conversation, you can request an edited version. For edited versions the researcher must give the transcriber specific instructions on what exactly is meant by editing.
You have several options when it come to who transcribes your recordings. You can certainly do the transcribing yourself. This has the advantage of your presence during the interview. You're the one who had the experience with the individual interviewed and can interpret the nuances and expressions better than anyone else. It is time consuming however.
You could hire one of your students who is majoring in your field of study to do the work. This has the benefit of an enthusiastic young person interested in your research and excited about taking part in it. This individual will also have academic qualifications others won't.
The most reliable option is to use a professional service. Professionals have experience and understand the importance of deadlines. You can choose the level of transcription that best fits your needs. The cost associated with a service could be well worth it.
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