We have been discussing a lot of topics here with a purpose of knowledge sharing. There are still a lot of subjects that need to be discussed and one such subject is conducting better interviews for transcription. Let’s discuss:
VENUE: Try to conduct the interview at a non-public place to avoid any disturbance because the noisier the surrounding, the harder the transcription process will be. At a public place, the recording may pickup other people’s voices too. Choose something like a hotel room, interviewee’s home, your home, etc.
DEVICE & SOFTWARE: To ensure a high quality recording, invest in a professional recorder, a noise-cancelling microphone and professional editing software. Get a recorder which saves file in an uncompressed format to avoid any compromise in quality. Edit the recording using professional software or try to get in touch with someone experienced in the same.
HOMEWORK: Study thoroughly the background of your subject, be it a person or a topic, which helps you to understand what questions to ask and when. Include some open ended questions, as it will help the interviewee elaborate the point which will help you collecting some significant information.
HUMANIZE: Humanize the conversation by asking a question that focuses on the interviewee like where he/she was born? What was his/her favorite subject at college? This will relax your interviewee & the ambiance too. His/her answers may also lead you to another interesting story.
Whatever is the purpose of the interview, without a proper guidance the interview may be rendered futile if it cannot be used in any way?