Hello, transcription is an integral process of the qualitative analysis of language data. This can be words gathered from focus groups or in person interviews. Such data is a gold mine worth of material that you need to protect. That word for word transcript presents a foundation for your analysis. Now there are important rules to follow when transcribing such data from focus groups or interviews. These include, make sure the recorded transcripts are accurate. Either hire a professional to transcribe it, or do it yourself. Transcribe word for word. Make sure the date and title of the project are on each page and number your pages. Note who is talking in the group without typing their name. Write, male or female. Store the actual recording in a locked cabinet for seven years. We'll look at each of these rules in turn. And after this lesson, you will be able to explain the process for getting a focus group transcribed and be able to recall guidelines for transcription. So let's get started. To ensure you have an accurate transcription of the recording, you can either transcribe it yourself or an employ a transcriptionist. Be clear about what you want. If you request it verbatim it will include the um's and the pauses. You save on cost by just having the words transcribed. For instance, if people come up to you to talk after the group and the tape is still recording, that transcriptionist should not transcribe that part. But you must communicate that. Either way, it must be word for word. This may seem tedious, but you want to preserve the flavor and intonation of the statements from the respondents. It shouldn't cost more to get every word, but if it does, it is worth it. Also request the dates and title on each page. Tell them to identify each speaker and transitions. Give them the coding system you use such as Participant 1 F or noted as P1F, meaning Participant 1 Female, Participant 2 Male. If you say their first name, like Helen, let them go ahead and write Helen. That way you know who that person is. When you get the transcriptions back, read it for accuracy, because each transcriptionist can make mistakes. Often, they will put little spaces when they don't know. They'll say inaudible. Hopefully, they won't do too many of those. Keep in mind that one hour of spoken word takes about two to four hours to transcribe. So, unless you are an extremely fast typist, hand over your recordings to a transcriptionist. The advantage of doing it yourself is that you can start thinking about what you want to include in the report as well a saving some money. If you don't have time, it's not worth doing it yourself, because time is money. The price for transcription varies. Some people charge by the page, single spaced and some charge by the hour. I would suggest paying someone by the page. That way, if they are a slow typist, or have to rewind, you don't pay for their lack of speed. You will notice that in our focus group transcription, the transcriptionist even summarized in a word or two, the tenor of the speaker and captured every and. When you opt to transcribe it yourself, use the time to start your analysis process. For complex focus groups, I prefer transcribing them myself so I can begin to think about analysis as I relisten to the group. I also use this processing time to integrate Information from my notes taken during the group. When I start transcribing, I read each question and comment thoroughly. Then I write the topic in the margin, as well as the symbol for male or female, and a couple of words to summarize what they said. When I start reading my transcription, I read each question and comment thoroughly. Then I write the topic in the margin as well as a symbol for male or female and a couple of words to summarize what they've said. If the statement sounds like something to use in your report, I highlight the sentence. On the first topic of our focus group, we asked each participant which cell phone they had and what feature they liked best. As you can see up at the top I type iPhone, feature best, camera reason. Syncs with Apple laptop. So if you have any notes that you took during the group, add them in the margin. I usually do not use an Excel file for responses unless I have several groups to transcribe and need to sort responses. Usually I just cut and paste the content directly into the focus group report. However, if you have a coding guide, you can put the category in a column header. Like type of phone as column title and response, Apple 5C in the row. You will process the raw, verbatim text as a transcribed recording into something easier to read and follow. To do this, start by labeling each person in the group. Here is the labeling system I use. Take our focus group. You would have nine participants. I start their introductions by going to my right. I am considered M for moderator. The person to my right is P1M, and that stands for participant one male. Then P2F, that is participant two female. You have a seating chart that you can note this information on before the group starts, or as they do introductions. Keep a log of your tapes and what they contain. The log should keep track of who you gave the recording to, when you delivered it, and when you expect it back. Here's an example of such a log. If you look across the top from left to right, you will see the focus group number, the date the group was conducted, the date you sent it to the transcriptionist, that person's name, the due date, and the date the transcript was received back to you. I'm extremely cautious about transcriptionists losing my recordings. So I usually have two recording devices at the focus group. I keep one recording for my records just in case one gets lost. However you keep your recordings, make sure you have backups and keep the original. You want the transcripts to be accurate, but you want to eliminate some repetition and unnecessary words like uhs and ums or false starts, especially if there is a quote you will be using for your report. We call this cleaning up the data. You can see in this example from the focus group responses, although it's subtle, it makes the quote cleaner and keeps the essential meaning. The original quote had repetition, and ums. When I cut these unnecessary words, I add an ellipsis of three dots to indicate something was there. This makes it easier to read the report. I've covered acceptable practices when you clean up a transcript. However, there are boundaries. You should not change the grammar in the sentence for quotes. Instead, keep quotes exact. If a participant uses incorrect pronunciation, or grammar, put the letters s-i-c in brackets beside the phrase like this. An example would be, when President George W Bush said we need to make sure Iran never develops nuclear, and then the sic, weapons. He mispronounced nuclear. In such a case, that quote would look like this. If you are using an Excel file to keep track of quotes, you would have a section for each topic. You would make a column for quotes, then put separate quotes in each topic section. When you insert the quote, make sure you have the participant ID and focus group number. That concludes our lesson about transcription and protecting your data. I hope practical advice will help you protect the valuable data at the heart of qualitative research.
