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Five Interview Transcription Dos and Don'ts


An interview transcript needs persistence, attentive listening, and meticulous editing. Transcripts of interviews are accurate records of the events that take place during an interview and aid in streamlining the hiring process.


This article will walk you through the interview transcription process in this post and provide you with a list of advantages of having an interview transcription written for you and your company.


What is an interview transcript?

An interview transcript is a written account of an oral interview that has been conducted. A conversation between two or more people is recorded during the interview transcribing process. This procedure can be carried out either live or using audio or video recordings.


And due to advancements in technology, online meeting transcription is gaining a lot of popularity. In many instances, interview transcriptions are incredibly helpful. Transcripts of interviews can be used as a source of information for further studies, as a caption for the content, or to promote qualitative research.


However, you can only get these advantages if you conduct your interview transcriptions accurately. This applies even to the focus group transcription. To gain from interview transcriptions, there are a few things you must do and a few things you must not do.


By taking these things into account, you can greatly improve the quality of your transcripts while also saving a lot of time and effort on your projects. Here are five guidelines for writing up interviews:


1. Do not Rush into It

Interview transcription takes a lot of time and effort, so it can be tempting to rush through it. After all, you are busy, or perhaps you simply find interview transcriptions to be a complete bore. Online meeting transcriptions are even more boring.


Speedy transcription is undoubtedly a useful talent to master because it saves a lot of time. The key is to strike a balance between speed and accuracy.


Do take your time - Transcribing interviews is a talent that takes practice to master. The main reason for this is that transcription of interview audio frequently necessitates a lot of focused effort and time.


However, transcribing interviews requires more than just hard labour. Interview transcription can be interesting and rewarding if you put some effort into it.


2. Do not alter the information

Your interviewee might occasionally say things that contradict your conclusions. You may find this distressing and inconvenient given how much time you spend preparing the interviewee for the conversation.


Such a waste of time and effort, unless you edit the transcription slightly. Of course, you shouldn't alter the facts to make them more suitable for your academic needs. This can cause internal disagreement and research problems among your team, which could ultimately lead to the termination of the entire project.


In other words, you would be fabricating the interviewee's statements. The information should never be changed.


Keep using the knowledge you already have - Even though it may sound regrettable, it's always important to stick to your principles. In fact, even if an interviewee's words contradict your research, you can still use them as new data.


Discussion from multiple points of view, including those who support and oppose your research, is common in most research endeavours.


3. Avoid wasting too much time

You should avoid taking too much time with your transcribing, just as you should avoid hurrying it. While doing so allows you to guarantee both quality and accuracy, it also takes time away from other activities.


Most often, transcription of interview audio is a secondary ability to more crucial tasks like research and analysis.


Do enhance your accuracy and speed - The secret is finding the perfect balance between speed and precision, which you can do with the right training.


4. Do not forget precise timestamps

The timestamps are one of the most difficult aspects of interview transcriptions. It can be as difficult to type timestamps in the standard format of [hh:mm:ss.milliseconds] -> [hh:mm:ss.milliseconds] as it is to transcribe dialogue. Why not simply reduce it to [hh:mm]?


You can finish sooner if you do it that way, right? This might speed up the transcription procedure. But keep in mind that timestamps are a point of reference. Using this example, your analysis team may examine the interviewee's comments further using elements like voice tone.


They will need to spend more time to find the precise phrase they're looking for if you give them the timestamp [15:21] -> [15:23].


Place precise timestamps - You can reduce the time format to [hh:mm:ss] and even exclude the endpoint if time efficiency is your top priority. This might be obvious enough to predict when a statement will be made while also saving time.

Of course, it's ideal to inform your team about your preferred style if you're working with one.


5. Do not accept the first version as adequate

It's time to submit the transcript after you've laboriously spent several hours transcribing the interview tape, right? No, not really, most of the time. Your transcript's reliability and correctness are still under question.


It can take more time if you give it to your team since they might find it unclear and send it back to you.


Please check your transcription - Accuracy is a crucial component of good interview transcriptions. In addition to helping your team, it also does the interviewee's insights justice. Therefore, it is always required to revise the transcript of the interview to verify that it is correct.


It's worth the extra time, even if it means working for an hour or two longer, to assure correctness.


Although there are many more things you should be aware of regarding interview transcriptions, these five are among the most crucial. Interview transcription is a deceptively straightforward technique that is simple to learn but challenging to master.


Consider using London Transcription if you don't have the time to learn to transcribe but still want to focus on your main undertakings. Uploading your audio file and waiting for your transcript is all it takes to get your interview transcripts.

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