All in research methods

What do qualitative researchers need to know about transcription?

What do qualitative researchers need to know about transcription?

Transcription Centre
Hints and tips, research methods, academic transcription

When people write up their research, the concept of turning the audio from interviews into text is very often simply described in the methodology as ‘the audio was transcribed’. This over-simplistic breakdown of the act of transcription is something that should be considered more by qualitative researchers.

This is a quick look at a few key points raised in a new article in a research methods special issue of the journal Voluntas. There is a link to the open access article, which we suggest you read.

What is the best way to record phone/remote interviews?

What is the best way to record phone/remote interviews?

Neil
Hints and tips, academic transcription, research methods

We have a lot of experience in transcribing phone interviews and as technology has progressed over the last few years, it’s been easy to hear by the increasing overall quality of the recordings we receive. There is still very much a spectrum of recording methods however, so we thought it was a good time to share our experience of how to work best with your transcription company to get useful transcripts from these interviews.

5 tips for keeping your qualitative data organised

Neil
academic transcription, Hints and tips, research methods

So you’ve just come back from a fieldwork trip, or you’ve got a long backlog of interviews that you’ve conducted for a qualitative research project. All of a sudden you realise you’ve got dozens of audio files, some field notes, some scraps of paper, and don’t even know where to begin on getting things organised to begin your qualitative analysis.

Through my own experience as a researcher, I have found myself in a situation where the sheer volume of data gathered can be a bit daunting, but being systematic from the beginning can help you feel a bit more in control. Here are five tips on getting started so that you can make the best of your data analysis.