Just the other day, I had someone on a listserv ask whether they should send their interviews to a transcription service to be transcribe. You may not know this, but transcription is a service offered by our company. Because of that, I thought I would respond to the questions with some of my experiences. I’ve posted my response here for any researchers who are considering the same question.
This is a great question, and in my mind it seems to come down to three things: what time do you have to sacrifice, how much money are you willing to spend, and in what way would you like to get to know your data intimately. As an employee of a company that does transcriptions, I’ve gotten to see researchers struggle through this decision in the past, so I will pass on some of what I have learned.
The first question is the most important, and it is what most often has researchers sending transcripts to a transcription service. Transcripts take a long time. The industry standard for transcribing a single person talking into a microphone is 4 times the length of the audio. For two people it rises to 4-6 times, and for more than that it rises even further. This data assumes a fast typer, using good software, who frequently transcribes. For instance, one of our transcribers can transcribe something in a 1.5-3 times multiplier, about 3 times quicker than I could do it.
The second question can be very important, but is often overridden by the answer to the first question. Transcriptions are not cheap. Indeed, you will probably be surprised by how expensive they are. I’ve seen companies charge as much as $7-8 per audio minute. It is important to weigh the money and the time against each other to see which seems more important.
In what way would you like to get to know your data intimately? No matter how you go about this, you will get to know your data intimately. The first big qualitative research that a researcher does stays with them forever. You will become so deep into your data (from designing the instruments, to (re)listening to the interviews, to coding, to reviewing, to analyzing, to etc) regardless of how you go about getting intimate with your data. Personally, transcribing is one of the most tedious, painful, and annoying tasks that I have ever done, and I would not wish it on anyone. While it might be a way to “earn your stripes”, I think a better way to do that is by using the time you save on transcribing to design another study. Ultimately, you will gain intimate knowledge of your data, so don’t fret about that aspect.
If you have any questions that I could help answer, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I hope this helps you realize the value of getting a transcription service.
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